The first of three youth orchestras in this year's Proms is a cosmopolitan group of talented musicians from around Europe. Strauss's dramatic portrait of a hero is almost an opera without voices. Elgar's variations are deftly drawn characterisations of his friends. The Sibelius symphony, a vast Nordic tone picture, is conducted tonight by one of the composer's most celebrated interpreters.
From the Royal Albert Hall, London.

European Union Youth Orchestra, conductor Colin Davis

Strauss Don Juan

Elgar Enigma Variations

8.25 Poetry Proms
In the first of four occasional programmes, Seamus Heaney - winner of last year's Nobel Prize for Literature - reads from The Spirit Level, his first collection for five years, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

8.45 Sibelius Symphony No 2