BBC Proms 2025: Last Night of the Proms 2025 (BBC SO / Elim Chan)

13th September 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

MUSSORGSKY A Night on the Bare Mountain (original version)
HUMMEL Trumpet Concerto
LUCY WALKER Today
ARTHUR BENJAMIN Storm Cloud Cantata (from The Man Who Knew Too Much)
GOUNOD "Ah, je ris de me voir" from Faust
LEHÁR "Vilja Song" from The Merry Widow
CAMILLE PÉPIN Fireworks
DUKAS The Sorcerer's Apprentice
FREDDIE MERCURY (arr. Stuart Morley) Bohemian Rhapsody
SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture
LERNER AND LOEWE (arr. Paul Campbell) Medley from My Fair Lady - "Wouldn't it be Loverly", "Without You", "On the Street Where You Live", "Show Me", "I Could Have Danced All Night"
BERNSTEIN (arr. Simon Wright) Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
L. ANDERSON The Typewriter
RACHEL PORTMAN The Gathering Tree
TRADITIONAL (arr. Wood) Fantasia on British Sea-Songs
ARNE (arr. Sargent) Rule, Britannia!
ELGAR Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
PARRY (orch. Elgar) Jerusalem
TRADITIONAL (arr. Britten) The National Anthem
TRADITIONAL (arr. P. Campbell) Auld Lang Syne

Alison Balsom (trumpet)
Axelle Saint-Cirel (mezzo-soprano)
Louise Alder (soprano)
Sam Oladeinde (tenor)
Brian May
Roger Taylor
Bill Bailey (typewriter)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
National Youth Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elim Chan (conductor)



Last Night of the Proms. I only joined this mosh pit for seniors because of Elim Chan 陳以琳, and also for the retirement performance of Alison Balsom, who gave an exhilarating performance of the Hummel "Trumpet Concerto". Queen performing "Bohemian Rhapsody" to celebrate the song's 50th anniversary, Bill Bailey performing Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" and other fun and frolics have been well documented in the media already. Judging from the more serious items - Mussorgsky's "A Night on the Bare Mountain", Duka's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", Bernstein's "Prelude, Fugue and Riffs" and Shostakovich's "Festive Overture" - the pacing of the works, the transparency of the musical layers, the rhythmic agility, I am very convinced that the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition winner is a seriously good major talent, and I really hope that she will take over the LA Philharmonic. In her speech, she even gave a very subtle nod to Hong Kong's classical music icon Yip Wing-Sie 葉詠詩. But the Last Night is a very strange event. On my left in the Arena there were EU supporters donning full EU gear and on my right there were people drinking beer in black tie complaining all night about these "Europeans waving the EU flag" and asserting that only the Union Jack should be allowed. I genuinely felt unwelcomed by some, but everything was in line with expectations really. As the night progressed, I felt more comfortable pretending to be a tourist not understanding a single word of English. That allowed me to remain a neutral bystander during the singalong and to soak it all in while standing in the literal middle of the Royal Albert Hall surrounded by thousands of people belting out the favourites in the name of nationalism and patriotism, the very notion that brings together and tears apart people in equal measure, and one that is so very foreign to our generation of Hong Kong people who grew up on both sides of 1997. Very useful experience, and I had a lot of fun, but I don't think I belong here.

BBC Proms 2025: R. Strauss: Don Juan; Bernstein: Serenade; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (Ehnes / Sinfonia of London Chorus / Sinfonia of London / Wilson)

12th September 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

R. STRAUSS Don Juan
BERNSTEIN Serenade
RAVEL Daphnis and Chloé

James Ehnes (violin)
Sinfonia of London Chorus
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson (conductor)



Sinfonia of London and John Wilson, fascinating group of musicians. It is an orchestra (re-)established in 2018 (i.e. post-Brexit referendum) and is known as the "super orchestra" that consists of principals and leaders from various UK and international orchestras and chamber groups. They have recorded 19 albums for Chandos in 7 years. BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone have piled numerous awards on them. The British press sing endless praises on them. And then no one else cares. Are they just a local hype driven by a massive PR machine? Three works of erotic love tonight - tragedy of love in Strauss' "Don Juan", a discourse on love in Bernstein's "Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium'" and the happily thereafter in Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé". What's there to love? Without a doubt, the playing was outstanding, the virtuosity was stunning throughout and the orchestral colours enabled by these masterpieces were sensational live. Everyone in the audience was impressed by the performance. But something bugged me. I could not understand all the 5-star reviews and I started to question myself if I was just being obnoxious going against mainstream opinion, until I saw some similar comments on social media. There was something quite superficial and vacuous about it. Beyond the sweeping big tunes, you could hardly tell the difference between the characteristics of the different scenes and characters in the ballet, or "symphonie chorégraphique" as Ravel called it. Why was Dorcon's dance not grotesque and Daphnis' not gracious? And how were they different from the pirates in Part II? Again in the Bernstein, James Ehnes was somewhat academic and the drama was not big enough to distinguish between the subtle joy in "Aristophanes" and the yearning in "Agathon". This is a B-composer of "West Side Story" and "Candide", not Bach, Beethoven or Brahms, and one can milk the big tunes a lot more. If anyone has time to hear any of their recordings, I would love to get a second opinion from someone not associated with the British press, especially American and French audiences. I would also love to hear the orchestra play under a different conductor, and that would be telling.