Never done the Proms before? You're missing out. This eight-week festival of live classical music — and plenty more besides — is in London from 19 July-14 September 2024. Here's what you need to know.
What are these Proms you speak of?
The first ever Prom was in 1895, established by the conductor Henry Wood who wanted "to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience". Over the decades, it's burgeoned into an eight-week jamboree of concerts, workshops, talks and family events. This year, there are 90 shows, with over 3,000 musicians taking part, in London and beyond.
Where do the 2024 Proms take place?
The majority of Proms concerts take place at the flagship venue, South Kensington's Royal Albert Hall (RAH). This dazzling bowl of Victorian splendour holds an audience of over 5.5k. To paraphrase the Beatles, now you know how many folks it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
It's not all about London these days. There'll also be Proms at the newly-opened Bristol Beacon, Gateshead's Glasshouse International Centre for Music — and a brand new Proms residency in venues in Nottingham. Aberdeen, Belfast and Newport will also host chamber concerts. But as we're Londonist, our guide focuses on the capital.
What are the highlights of the 2024 Proms?
That very much depends what you're into. The Proms has evolved wonderfully over time to cater to an increasingly diverse audience, and offers everything from disco to Debussy. Here are some shows that've particularly got us drooling:
- Prom 2: Everybody Dance! The Sound of Disco - Following the success of the Northern Soul Prom last year, things get all Saturday Night Fever on the first Saturday of the festival. 20 July 🕺🏽
- Prom 8: Nick Drake - An Orchestral Celebration - River Man, Cello Song, and Time Has Told Me — by the great folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake — are performed in this show which marks 50 years since his death, aged just 26. 24 July 🎸
- Prom 13: Sarah Vaughan – If You Could See Me Now - Sarah Vaughan, one of the great voices in jazz, is celebrated with a performance from the BBC Concert Orchestra, Guy Barker and a string of guest singers. 28 July 🎙️
- Prom 20: Songs and Dances with the Kanneh-Masons - Brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason join the Brazilian guitarist Plínio Fernandes and the Fantasia Orchestra for a concert of folk songs, dances, prayers, incantations and pop classics. (Prom 22 is a relaxed version of this.) 4 Aug 🙏
- Prom 29: Jonathan Scott – Organ Recital - Hear the Albert Hall's 9,999-pipe organ in action, as Jonathan Scott tames the beast, playing Johann Sebastian Bach, Charles Ives and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 10 Aug 🎹
- Prom 36: Gemma New conducts Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night's Dream - Felix Mendelssohn was just 17 years old when he stumbled upon a German translation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and wrote an overture for it. 17 years later, he augmented it, and at this Prom, Gemma New conducts a performance with readings from the play for dramatic context. 16 Aug 🎭
- Prom 42: Beethoven’s Ninth by Heart - As if playing Beethoven's final symphony isn't impressive enough, the Aurora Orchestra will do it without sheet music, in a performance bolstered by the BBC Singers, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, actor Rhiannon May and actor/BSL interpreter Thomas Simper. 21 Aug 🧠
- Prom 46: Holst's The Planets - A Prom we recommend ever year — it is, after all, the suite that got so many people into classical music in the first place. This year, it's joined by Sibelius's The Wood Nymph, and the world premier of Laulut maaseudulta (Songs from the Countryside). 25 Aug 🪐
- Prom 51: Tinariwen – The Desert Blues - Mali's Tinariwen perform their brand of 'desert blues', in which traditional Tuareg and African music is fused with elements of Western rock and jazz. 28 Aug 🏜️
- Prom 57: Ultra Lounge - Henry Mancini and Beyond - A martini might be in order for this evening of tunes from the daddy of lounge music Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther, Moon River) and other cool cats. 2 Sept 🍸
- Prom 59: A French Fantasy - Boulanger, Fauré and Ravel - A dream team of fantasists come together for this all-French programme, which also features two prayers by Lili Boulanger. 4 Sept 🇫🇷
- Prom 62: Rattle conducts Mahler’s Sixth - Sir Simon Rattle — doyen of classical music — picks up the baton to tackle this intense Mahler piece, described as "a score of such terrifying and ominous power that it came to spook even the composer himself". Woah. 8 Sept 😱
How do I get tickets for the Proms?
Tickets for all London performances go on general sale at 9am on Saturday 18 May 2024 via the Proms website. If you're hoping to go to a number of shows, there's also a handy Proms Planner (though you'll need to register for this by 17 May). Or you can buy a physical paper (remember that?) Proms guide for £9.99.
If you want to be a proper 'prommer', read onto the next section...
What are the cheapest tickets at the Proms?
That'd be the 'promming' tickets. Until recent years, you'd have to pretend you had a headache at work, leave the office early, and queue to buy tickets on the door at the RAH. That's no longer the case. Around 1,000 promming tickets will be made available online for each performance* on 10.30am of the day of the concert. You can buy a maximum of two per person, and they cost £8 each (including booking fee).
If you prefer to keep it old school, you can still show up at Door 12 of the RAH on the day, and try to get your ticket that way. Tickets are sold up until five minutes before the performance starts. No promises you'll get in though.
*Except for Proms 11, 18, 22, 24, 48, 52, 54, 55, 62 and 69 which will be available from 10.30am the day before the Prom.
What exactly is promming anyway?
It's short for promenade, and in this case means you don't get a seat. You choose whether to head up into the gallery (spectacular views, and you can indeed stroll around a bit), or into the arena (tends to be more cramped, but you can see the performers up close, and it's quite the atmosphere). You can take a picnic in with you but any booze may be confiscated. Boo.
Are the Proms just for adults?
Proms 11 and 12 (on 27 July) are a CBeebies Wildlife Jamboree special, featuring favourite characters including Duggee, Bluey and the Octonauts.
Note that under-18s also get half-priced tickets to all proms (except Last Night of the Proms).
Do I need to dress up posh?
Top hats and tailcoats please. Only joking. Wear what you like, within reason. We've even seen some prommers stalk about barefoot in the gallery (arguably pretentious, but maybe it helps them contemplate Shostakovich or something).
When is the last night of the Proms?
This year's flag-waving finale is on 14 September — featuring works from Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint‐Saëns, and of course, Thomas Arne's Rule, Britannia! It's a wildly popular night, and ticketing for it is different (and more complicated) than other Proms. Ballots are involved — and you're given priority if you've been to at least five other Proms in the season. Check out the details here.
Your flag needn't be a Union Flag. There was a myth started a few years back that EU flags are banned — it's not true.
