Sir Simon Rattle, British conductor. Photo Peter Adamik / Berliner Philharmoniker

BBC Proms - Week Seven

When: 31 Aug - 6 Sep 2008 (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

While Sir Simon Rattle's return with his Berliner Philharmoniker will dominate headlines in the Proms' seventh week, look out for Verdi's Requiem, Indian ragas and evil magician Kashchey at the Royal Albert Hall.

This fantastic festival has some of 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 - even cheaper with the Prommers Weekend Pass - the Proms represent the best value concerts (classical or otherwise) anywhere in the world.

Prom 60: Sunday 31 August at 4pm
Mozart: Piano Sonata (tba)
Rachmaninov & Debussy: Preludes (selection
Schubert: Fantasie in F minor D940
Chopin: Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante Op 22 & Waltzes (selection)
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No 2
Pianist Lang Lang gives a family matinée, joined in the Schubert by nine-year-old Marc Yu
Prom 61: Sunday 31 August at 8pm
Verdi: Requiem
Chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Jirí Belohlávek says farewell to this year's Proms with Verdi's dramatic Requiem, featuring soprano Violeta Urmana, mezzo Olga Borodina, tenor Joseph Calleja and bass Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, as well as both the BBC Symphony Chorus and the Crouch End Festival Chorus
Prom 62: Monday 1 September at 7pm
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Op 61 with Nikolaj Znaider
Sibelius: Symphony No 2 in D Op 43
The key of D rules in Sir Colin Davis' Prom with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester
Prom 63: Monday 1 September Late Night at 7.30pm
Indian ragas form a thread through the evening, interspersed, first, with motets and chansons by Claude Le Jeune, Antoine Brumel and Claudin de Sermisy. Then Messiaen's Cinq rechants are followed by Night ragas, with the BBC Singers conducted by director David Hill and accompanied by Nishat Khan (sitar), Rashid Mustafa Thirakwa (tabla) and Emmanuel Masongsong (tanpura)

Two concerts by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle
Prom 64: Tuesday 2 September at 7.30pm
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and, on ondes martenot, composer Tristan Murail
Prom 65: Wednesday 3 September at 7.30pm
Brahms: Symphony No 3 in F Op 90
Shostakovich: Symphony No 10 in E minor Op 93

Prom 66: Thursday 4 September at 7.30pm
Grace Williams: Sea Sketches
Elgar: Sea Pictures with Christine Rice
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 6 in B minor Op 74 Pathetique
Tadaaki Otaka, conductor laureate of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, makes a very welcome return to the Royal Albert Hall
Prom 67: Thursday 4 September Late Night at 10pm
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Fabulous Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst plays his second Prom this year, with violinist Anthony Marwood, cellist Matthew Barley and pianist Thomas Larchner
Prom 68: Friday 5 September at 7.30pm
Rimsky-Korsakov: Kashchey the Immortal (concert performance, sung in Russian) with Vyacheslav Voynarovsky (Kashchey), Tatiana Monogarova (Princess), Pavel Baransky (Ivan Korolevich), Elena Manistina (Kashcheyevna), Mikhail Petrenko (Storm Knight) and the BBC Singers
Stravinsky: The Firebird (complete ballet)
Principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski conducts two works about evil magician Kashchey by teacher and pupil. Rimsky-Korsakov's one-act opera commemorates the centenary of his death, while Stravinsky's first ballet is full of his teacher's orchestral colours.
Prom 69: Saturday 6 September at 7.30pm
Roussel: Bacchus et Arianne Suite No 2
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor Op 18 with Stephen Hough
Thea Musgrave: Rainbow
Debussy La mer
Stéphane Denève returns to the Proms with his Royal Scottish National Orchestra to celebrate Thea Musgrave's 80th birthday

Tourist Office

Visit London
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Phone: +44 (0)20 7234 5800
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