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Arvo Pärt, Estonian composer, celebrating his 75th birthday at the 2010 BBC Proms;

Arvo Pärt, Estonian composer, celebrating his 75th birthday at the 2010 BBC Proms

Photo © Universal Edition/ERic Marinitsch

BBC Proms - Week Five

When: 15 - 21 Aug 2010 (annual)

Where: Royal Albert Hall

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

Rating: 3 stars

Phone: 0845 401 5040 (from UK only)

Web site: BBC Proms Website

Russian music pervades the BBC Proms' fifth week at the Royal Albert, with Russian maestri Valery Gergiev and Mikhail Pletnev appearing. Estonian Arvo Pärt's 75th birthday (actually on the Last Night - 11 September) is also roundly celebrated.

With standing places (only available an hour before each performance) still just £5, the Proms remain the best-value concert series in the world. A summer visit to London without a visit to the Proms is definitely an opportunity missed.

Two London orchestras appear with their Russian music directors:

Prom 40: Sunday 15 August at 6.30pm
Mussorgsky arr Rimsky-Korsakov: A Night on the Bare Mountain
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No 1 in A minor with Julia Fischer
Scriabin: Rêverie
Prokofiev: Symphony No 3 in C minor
Vladimir Jurowski returns with his London Philharmonic Orchestra

Prom 41: Monday 16 August at 7.30pm
Scriabin: Symphony No 1 in E with mezzo Nadezhda Serdiuk, tenor Sergei Skorokhodov and the London Symphony Chorus
Stravinsky: The Firebird (complete)
Valery Gergiev returns with his London Symphony Orchestra

Prom 42: Tuesday 17 August at 7pm
Arvo Pärt: Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Huw Watkins: Violin Concerto (BBC commission, world première) with Alina Ibragimova
Shostakovich: Symphony No 5 in D minor
Edward Gardner conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Prom 43: Tuesday 17 August Late Night at 10.15pm
Arvo Pärt: St John Passion
David Hill conducts his BBC Singers, organist Iain Farrington, Endymion and soloists Andrew Kennedy (Pilate) and Brindley Sherratt (Jesus) in Pärt's austere yet serene gospel setting

Prom 44: Wednesday 18 August at 7.30pm
Beethoven: Overture Coriolan
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Nikolai Lugansky
Tchaikovsky: Suite No 3 in G
Mikhail Pletnev brings his Russian National Orchestra (20 this year) back to the Proms after a 14-year gap

Prom 45: Thursday 19 August at 7.30pm
Mozart: Overture Der Schauspieldirektor
Liszt: Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat with Boris Berezovsky
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade
James Dillon: La navette (UK première)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 2 in C minor Little Russian
Martyn Brabbins conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a typically varied, not-to-say generous programme

Prom 46: Friday 20 August at 7pm
Mosolov: The Iron Foundry
Arvo Pärt: Symphony No 4 Los Angeles (UK première)
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts his Philharmonia Orchestra in the new Pärt he premièred in Los Angeles last year

Prom 47: Friday 20 August Late Night at 10pm
Cage: First Construction (in Metal)
Cardew: Bun No 1 (London première)
Howard Skempton: Lento
Feldman: Piano and Orchestra (London première) with pianist John Tilbury
Ilan Volkov makes a welcome return to the Proms with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in this late-night avant garde programme

Prom 48: Saturday 21 August at 7.30pm
Wagner: Overture Tannhäser
Mahler: Rückert-Lieder with baritone Simon Keenlyside
Beethoven: Symphony No 3 in E flat Eroica
Yannick Nézet-Séguin returns to the Proms, though for the first time with his new orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic

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