Bristol will host the BBC Proms this summer!

Part of the recently introduced Proms Across the UK, Proms Bristol will see four concerts taking place over the August bank holiday weekend

Transcript

00:00 So in terms of access and inclusion, we see that as very much our job as a charity.

00:04 So I am here in the main hall of the newly refurbished Bristol Beacon,

00:09 which has recently announced that they will be hosting the BBC Proms this summer.

00:13 We have a whole weekend of events, four major events that have come, so it's a massive coup

00:19 for our beautiful new building. I've been really, you know, wonderfully happy about

00:23 how excited everybody is about the Proms. I think it's important because it's an international

00:28 festival. It's recognised across the world, people travel from everywhere and I'm sure we'll

00:32 have many people who come to Bristol who've never considered Bristol just because the Proms are here.

00:37 Part of the recently introduced Proms across the UK, Proms Bristol will see four concerts

00:43 taking place over the August bank holiday weekend. The CBBC Prom will also see additional activities

00:51 from the Beacon's family-friendly Hoo-Ha Festival, bringing a range of free musical activities

00:57 and experiences for children and their families to enjoy.

01:01 So the Proms is one of the largest music festivals in the world, principally classical music,

01:08 but does all sorts of music as well. And it's really famous for the proming tickets.

01:14 The idea of the Proms is that as many people from many different backgrounds get access to

01:20 music as possible. So we're very excited to announce that one of the events is with the

01:25 Para Orchestra. The piece and the performance is called the Virtuous Circle and it's a performance

01:31 of Mozart's 40th Symphony. The next is a performance with the BBC Singers who are

01:37 celebrating their 100 years. There's some fantastic compositions in there, really accessible. John

01:42 Tavener's Song for Athena, which was very famous, but also a piece by John Picard who is a composer

01:49 based in Bristol and wrote a fantastic piece for them in 2018. There's new commissions in there,

01:53 so that should be a beautiful performance. The next is a concert by the Bournemouth Symphony

01:59 Orchestra who are an orchestra in residence. It's a wonderful moment because they've been

02:06 working with Kirill Karabits, their principal conductor, for many years and this will be his

02:11 last performance with them as chief conductor. So it's a fantastic opportunity for Bristol

02:16 audiences to say goodbye to Kirill as chief conductor. And the final performance is CBeebies,

02:23 which we're delighted about. It's about saying that Bristol is as good as anywhere in Europe,

02:28 in the world, and we deserve this beautiful concert performance space and it's really proving

02:35 that point. So yeah, I think that's why everybody's been so excited. The announcement of BBC Proms

02:41 visiting the Bristol Beacon is an exciting thing for the city of Bristol and hopefully the first

02:47 of many. I mean, we have a partnership with them with a real focus on inclusion, as you can see

02:53 from the power orchestra and also the composers represented in it. So yes, this is the first of