Martin Fröst, Swedish clarinettist. Photo Mats Bäcker, courtsy Harrison/Parrott

BBC Proms - Week Four

When: Aug 2009 (annual)

Where: Royal Albert Hall

Opening Hours: Various; free pre-concert events before all Proms at the Royal College of Music's Britten Theatre

Address: Bookings from 21 April to: BBC Proms Box Office, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP. Phone & personal booking from 27 May

Phone: 0845 401 5040 (from UK only)

Web site: BBC Proms Website

Friends and celebrations typify the Proms' fourth week at the Royal Albert Hall. Old friends include Pierre Boulez, as both composer and conductor, and Sir Charles Mackerras and new friends include Gustavo Dudamel, while Gianandrea Noseda salutes Puccini's 150th anniversary.

Don't miss this fantastic festival, with the cheapest tickets in town. With places guaranteed for those that queue on the day (as long as you queue early enough and are happy to stand) for only £5 - with even cheaper weekend Proms passes - the Proms are the best value concerts (classical or not) anywhere in the world.

Prom 32: Sunday 10 August at 4pm
Continuing the organ-focus of Sunday matinées, Andrew Carwood conducts the BBC Singers and organist James O'Donnell interspersing Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecôte with 16th-century Manchicourt's Missa Veni Creator Spiritus
Prom 33: Sunday 10 August at 7.30pm
Sibelius: Night-Ride and Sunrise
Michael Berkeley: Slow Dawn (new version, world première)
Stuart MacRae: Gaudete sith soprano Susanna Andersson (BBC commission, world première)
Elgar Variations on an original theme, Enigma
ENO music director Edward Gardner conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Prom 34: Monday 6 August at 7.30pm
Rachmaninov: Symphony No 1 in D minor
Puccini: Il tabarro (concert performance, sung in Italian)
Puccini's 150th birthday is celebrated with his brooding one-acter starring Barbara Frittoli as Giorgetta, whose devided loyalties to her husband, bargeman Michele (Lado Ataneli) and her lover Luigi (Miro Dvorsky), lead to tragedy. Jane Henschel, Barry Banks, Alastair Miles, Allan Clayton, Katherine Broderick, Edgaras Montvidas and the BBC Singers join Gianandrea Noseda and his BBC Philharmonic
Prom 35: Tuesday 12 August at 7pm
Elgar: Overture In the South (Alassio)
Vaughan Williams: Piano Concerto with Ashley Wass
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade
Principal guest conductor Vassily Sinaisky returns with the BBC Philharmonic
Prom 36: Tuesday 12 August Late Night at 10.15pm
Rachmaninov: All Night Vigil (Vespers)
Paul Hillier returns with his Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Prom 37: Wednesday 13 August at 7.30pm
Ravel: La Valse
Anders Hillborg: Clarinet Concerto - Peacock Tales (UK première) with Martin Fröst
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
After last year's high-octane appearance with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Venezuela, Gustavo Dudamel returns with his Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Prom 38: Thursday 14 August at 7pm
Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in B flat for oboe, bassoon, violin and cello
Schoenberg: Variations for Orchestra Op 31
Brahms: Symphony No 4
Daniel Barenboim returns with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra whose principals are soloists in the Haydn
Prom 39: Thursday 14 August Late Night at 10.15pm
Boulez: Mémoriale ('... explosante-fixe ...' Originel)
Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat
Barenboim conducts members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with French actor/director Patrice Chéreau narrating the Stravinsky
Prom 40: Friday 15 August at 7.30pm
Janácek: Sinfonietta, Concertino with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet & Glagolitic Mass (original version, reconstructed by Paul Wingfield).
Having appeared as composer last night, Boulez conducts this all-Janácek prom, reuniting him with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His soloists are soprano Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, mezzo Anna Stéphany, tenor Simon O'Neill and bass Peter Fried, with organist Simon Preston, the BBC Symphony Chorus and London Symphony Chorus
Prom 41: Saturday 16 August at 6.30pm
Handel: Belshazzar
Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the Orchestra and Choir of the Enlightenment in the annual Handel oratorio. His choice cast comprises Paul Groves (Belshazzar), Rosemary Joshua (Nitocris), Bejun Mehta (Cyrus), Iestyn Davies (Daniel) and Robert Gleadow (Gobrias).

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