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A Proms Special! Nicholas Collon, Prog Rock and Jessie Montgomery

Celebrating the start of the Proms, Tom Service chats to conductor Nicholas Collon and composer Jessie Montgomery and previews the Prog Rock Prom with broadcaster Stuart Maconie.

Tom Service with guests, stories and the perfect classical soundtrack for the weekend!

Tom sits down with conductor Nicholas Collon to talk about his life in music. An ever-present at the Proms, for the past few years he has lead his Aurora Orchestra in their hugely popular memorised performances. This year, it's the challenge of Mahler's hour-long and vast First Symphony - he talks to Tom about founding the orchestra 20 years ago and his musical journey to everything he does today, from Aurora to the Finnish Radio Symphony and beyond!

Tom also chats to broadcaster Stuart Maconie and prog rock royalty Carl Palmer, of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, ahead of tonight's Prog Rock Prom and explores the surprising links between classical and prog rock music!

And our focus on musical Creators continues with the American composer Jessie Montgomery, whose emotional piece These Righteous Paths has its UK premiere at the Proms this week with the cellist Abel Selaocoe.

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3 hours

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Saturday 09:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Joseph Haydn

    Mass in C major H.22.5 'St.Cecilia mass' (Gloria)

    Choir: Zürcher Sing-Akademie. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Basel. Conductor: René Jacobs.
    • Haydn: Missa Cellensis.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 4.

  • Manuel de Falla

    Ritual Fire Dance (El Amor Brujo)

    Orchestra: Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Pablo Heras‐Casado.
    • Harmonia mundi.

  • Niel Gow

    Niel Gow's Lament for the Red, Red Rose

    Music Arranger: Barokksolistene. Music Arranger: Bjarte Eike. Ensemble: Barokksolistene. Performer: Bjarte Eike.
    • The Playhouse Sessions.
    • Rubicon.
    • 12.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Nocturne in B major Op.40

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • PHILIPS.

  • Oscar Peterson

    Hymn to Freedom

    Performer: Lara Downes.
    • Hold These Truths.
    • Pentatone.
    • 103.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Sinfonietta (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Bramwell Tovey.
    • Poulenc: Orchestral Works.
    • Chandos.
    • 104.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano concerto no.21 in C major K.467 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Jonathan Fournel. Orchestra: Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg. Conductor: Howard Griffiths.
    • Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 18 KV 456 & 21 KV 467.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 5.

  • Orlande de Lassus

    Super flumina Babylonis

    Choir: La Tempête. Director: Simon‐Pierre Bestion.
    • Orlando, A Melancholic Portrait.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 7.

  • Michael Torke

    Run

    Orchestra: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Yoel Levi.
    • Javelin - The Music Of Michael Torke.
    • Decca.
    • 3.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Lute concerto in D major RV.93 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Thomas Dunford. Ensemble: Jupiter Ensemble.
    • Vivaldi.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 2.

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.2 in C minor 'Resurrection' (4th mvt)

    Singer: Magdalena Kožená. Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • G. Mahler, Symphony no. 2 'Resurrection': Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 3.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony no.5 in D minor Op.47 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • BBC Proms 2025 recording.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie Fantastique (Marche au supplice)

    Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • BBC Proms 2019 recording.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no.9 in D minor Op.125 'Choral' (ending)

    Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • BBC Proms 2024 recording.

  • Justinian Tamasuza

    Ekitundu Ekisooka [First Movement]

    Ensemble: Kronos Quartet.
    • Pieces of Africa.
    • Nonesuch.
    • 4.

  • Vladimir Horowitz

    Variations on a Theme from Bizet's Carmen

    Performer: Yuja Wang.
    • Yuja Wang - Fantasia.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 8.

  • Charlotte Sohy

    Symphony in C sharp minor Op.10 'Grande Guerre' (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Conductor: Bar Avni.
    • Symphonies in 3 Movements.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 2.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin no.4 in A minor (Sarabande)

    Ensemble: Trio SR9.
    • Alors, on danse ? (Transcr. for Three Marimbas).
    • Believe International.
    • 05.

  • Nico Muhly

    Märchentänze (1st mvt)

    Performer: Pekka Kuusisto. Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Ondine.
    • 10.

  • Joseph Kosma

    Autumn Leaves

    Performer: Yunchan Lim.
    • BBC Proms 2026 recording.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony no.9 in C major D.944 'Great' (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.
    • Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, 'The Great', D. 944.
    • Linn Records.
    • 3.

  • Gentle Giant

    On Reflection

    • The Road Goes on Forever.

  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer

    Fanfare for the Common Man

    • Atlantic.

  • Yes

    And You And I

    • Atlantic.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Vespers (Laetatus sum)

    Ensemble: Pygmalion. Conductor: Raphaël Pichon.
    • Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 6.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Suite Op.117 (Country scenery)

    Performer: Sueye Park. Orchestra: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Conductor: Valentin Egel.
    • Goldmark and Sibelius: Works for violin and orchestra.
    • BIS Records.
    • 4.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Suite Op.117 (In the summer)

    Performer: Sueye Park. Orchestra: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Conductor: Valentin Egel.
    • Goldmark and Sibelius: Works for violin and orchestra.
    • BIS Records.
    • 6.

  • Jessie Montgomery

    These Righteous Paths

    Performer: Abel Selaocoe. Orchestra: Brussels Philharmonic. Conductor: Kazushi Ono.
    • Private recording.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Symphony no.5 in D major (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9.
    • LSO Live.
    • 3.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude and Fugue in B flat major BWV.866 (The Well-Tempered Clavier Bk.1)

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier.
    • Hyperion.
    • 17.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Prelude, Fugue and Riffs

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • NAZARENO! Bernstein, Stravinsky, Golijov.
    • LSO Live.
    • 1.

Broadcast

  • Saturday 09:00
    BBC Radio 3