History will not look kindly on the BBC’s continued failure to provide equal space for female composers in the highest-profile venues during The Proms, writes The Guardian.
The Proms began in 1895 as the brainchild of impresario Robert Newman and conductor Henry Wood. “Democratising the message of music” was, in Wood’s words, the aim of this cheap summer season of orchestral concerts. When the festival was threatened by financial catastrophe in 1927, it was one of the great enlightened acts of the young BBC to take it on and subsume it into its own work.
The annual arrival of the Proms programme, which was published last week, continues to mark a particular moment in the British cultural calendar. “Your guide to the world’s greatest classical music festival … UK bestseller”, proclaims the cover. For once, such arrogance is justified... Keep reading on The Guardian
The Proms began in 1895 as the brainchild of impresario Robert Newman and conductor Henry Wood. “Democratising the message of music” was, in Wood’s words, the aim of this cheap summer season of orchestral concerts. When the festival was threatened by financial catastrophe in 1927, it was one of the great enlightened acts of the young BBC to take it on and subsume it into its own work.
The annual arrival of the Proms programme, which was published last week, continues to mark a particular moment in the British cultural calendar. “Your guide to the world’s greatest classical music festival … UK bestseller”, proclaims the cover. For once, such arrogance is justified... Keep reading on The Guardian