Ravel’s Piano Concerto at the BBC Proms

Elizabeth Alker celebrates summer music-making in the UK and beyond.

In the first of this year’s summer editions of Classical Live, we hear highlights from the First Night of the Proms, when pianist Yunchan Lim joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dalia Stesevska for Ravel’s Piano Concerto. The BBC Proms loom large in our listening across the season, but we’ll also be visiting summer festivals across Europe; today we visit the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg in Austria and the opening concert of the Leipzig Bach Festival in Germany.

From the First Night of the Proms 2026:
Aaron Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

George Gershwin
An American in Paris
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

From Leipzig Bach Festival 2026:
Claudio Monteverdi
Vespro della Beata Virgine (excerpt)
Marie Luise Werneburg (soprano)
Patricia Nolz (soprano)
Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano)
Nick Pritchard (tenor)
Robert Pohlers (tenor)
Volker Arndt (tenor)
Frederick Long (bass)
St Thomas' Choir, Leipzig
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Andreas Reize (conductor)

From the First Night of the Proms 2026:
Maurice Ravel
Piano Concerto in G major
Yunchan Lim (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

From the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg 2026:
Franz Schubert
Piano Sonata No. 18 in G major, D894
Francesco Piemontesi (piano)

From the First Night of the Proms 2026:
Gerald Finzi
For Saint Cecilia
Thomas Atkins (tenor)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".