Jirí Belohlávek, Czech conductor. Photo Lara Platman, courtesy BBC

BBC Proms - Week Five

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

Messiaen's and Elliott Carter's centenaries, a reconstruction of when Mahler's Fifth Symphony was premièred (with the same orchestra), a Tchaikovsky ballet and a Janácek opera typify the Proms' fifth busy week at the Royal Albert Hall.

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.

Prom 42: Sunday 17 August at 4pm
Messiaen: Apparition de l'église éternelle and La Nativité du Seigneur
Organist Jennifer Bate continues the Sunday matinée organ strand
Prom 43: Sunday 17 August at 7.30pm
Mozart: Symphony No 34 in C K 338
Vaughan Williams: Flos Campi with violist Lawrence Power
Nigel Osborne: Flute Concerto with Sharon Bezaly
Beethoven: Mass in C with soprano Rebecca Evans, mezzo Pamela Helen Stephen, tenor Thomas Walker and bass Matthew Rose
Richard Hickox conducts the BBC Singers and his City of London Sinfonia

Two concerts by Ilan Volkov and his BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra celebrating centenaries: first Elliott Carter, then Messiaen
Prom 44: Monday 18 August at 7.30pm
Elliott Carter: Soundings with pianist Nicholas Hodges (UK première)
Prokofiev: Symphony-Concerto with cellist Alban Gerhardt
Beethoven: Symphony No 6 in F Op 68 Pastoral
Prom 45: Tuesday 15 August at 7pm
Jonathan Harvey: Tombeau de Messiaen
Messiaen: Concert à quatre with pianist Cédric Tiberghien, flautist Emily Beynon, oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk and cellist Danjulo Ishizaka
Jonathan Harvey: Mortuos plango, vivos voco and Speakings (BBC co-commission with IRCAM and Radio France, UK première)
Varèse: Poème éléctronique & Déserts
In his second Prom, Ilan Volkov also highlights electroacoustic music, with two works by composer-in-residence Harvey and two classic scores by Varèse, the first premièred 50 years ago

Prom 46: Wednesday 20 August at 7pm
Tchaikovsky: the Sleeping Beauty (complete)
Valery Gergiev conducts his London Symphony Orchestra in one of the great ballet scores
Prom 47: Thursday 21 August at 7.30pm
Dvorák: Slavonic Dances Op 46
Janácek: Osud (concert performance, sung in Czech)
Playing to his Bohemian strengths, and returning to Janácek after his fantastic BBC performance and DG recording of Broucek, Jirí Belohlávek turns to the earlier one-act opera Fate. His cast includes Stefan Margita (Zivny), Amanda Roocroft (Míla), Rosalind Plowright (Míla's Mother), Ales Briscein (Dr Suda), Ailish Tynan (Miss Stuhlá), Martina Bauerová (Miss Pacovská/Fanca) and George Longworth (Doubek), together with the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra
Prom 48: Friday 22 August at 7pm
Mahler: Symphony No 5 in C sharp minor
Stockhausen: Punkte (1952/ 1962/ 1993)
Schubert: Ständchen D920b (orch. David Matthews); Bei dir allein D866/2 (orch. Manfred Trojahn); Nacht und Träume D827 (orch. Colin Matthews) and Das Lied im Grünen D917 (orch. Detlev Glanert) with mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager
Beethoven: Overture Leonore No 3
Making its first-ever visit to the Proms, Munich's 150-year-old Gürzenich Orchestra, with its music-director Markus Stenz, recreates the 1904 première of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, although with brand new orchestrations of the ensuing Schubert songs. This Prom also adds Stockhausen's Punkte which was also premièred in Cologne some five decades later.
Prom 49 Saturday 23 August Late Night at 6.30pm
Varèse: Amériques
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 4 in G minor Op 40 with Boris Berezovsky
Copland: Symphony No 3
The annual National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain Prom is conducted by Antonio Pappano

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