Season Previews

From Bernstein to Benedetti, Haitink to Hvorostovsky, Mackerras to Kanneh-Masons

Musical greats, from the past and the present, brought together in one extraordinary Proms season

17 July – 12 September 2020

Update 2 September – The pandemic means a different Proms this year and one of the consequences, under COVID-19 restrictions, is we are not able to bring together massed voices. For that reason we took the artistic decision not to sing ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ in the Hall.  

We have been looking hard at what else might be possible and we have a solution. Both pieces will now include a select group of BBC Singers.  This means the words will be sung in the Hall, and as we have always made clear, audiences will be free to sing along at home. While it can’t be a full choir, and we are unable to have audiences in the Hall, we are doing everything possible to make it special and want a Last Night truly to remember.

We hope everyone will welcome this solution. We think the night itself will be a very special moment for the country – and one that is much needed after a difficult period for everyone. It will not be a usual Last Night, but it will be a night not just to look forward to, but to remember. 

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Cadogan Hall resumes indoor live performances with audience

Cadogan Hall is resuming live indoor performances with socially distanced audiences from Wednesday 30 September. Throughout the rest of the year, the Hall will host a series of concerts and events with its usual range of genres and offer for everyone, including three performances from players from resident ensemble the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the EFG London Jazz Festival.

For more information click here

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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JOHN GILHOOLY CONFIRMS 100 CONCERTS FOR NEWLY REVISED WIGMORE PROGRAMME FROM 13 SEPTEMBER – 21 DECEMBER

• Over 200 artists confirmed, of which over two-thirds are UK born or UK based, underlining Wigmore Hall’s efforts to get artists earning again.
• Reaffirming Wigmore Hall’s ongoing commitment to diversity of repertoire and artists, performances include Apartment House, Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, Tai Murray (violin), Elizabeth Llewellyn (soprano), Fatma Said (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone), Arditti Quartet, Elena Urioste (violin), Kit Armstrong (piano), Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord), Claron McFadden (soprano) and Matthew Wadsworth (lute) and a digital fundraising concert for Chineke!.
• Special focuses on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in song and chamber music, Polish-Jewish-Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg, and the pioneering 20th century minimalist Julius Eastman who expressed his black and gay identity through music.
• Special documentary on internationally acclaimed double bassist Leon Bosch and his early anti-apartheid activism which saw him jailed as a teenager in South Africa, and Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger on Anti-Semitism. To celebrate the release of their respective new books, Graham Johnson will give a talk on Poulenc, and Natasha Loges and Katy Hamilton will present a discussion on Brahms.
• Concerts will go ahead with or without an audience. All concerts will be live streamed in high definition on Wigmore Hall’s website and will be free to view worldwide.
• 28 lunchtime concerts to be broadcast in association with BBC Radio 3 as well as a New Generation Artists weekend.

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