Stephanie Hughes introduces live coverage of the opening night of the 108th Proms season from London's Royal Albert Hall. This year's festival of classical music, comprising 73 concerts between tonight and 14 September, has a Spanish theme, reflected in tonight's programme by a first-night fiesta.
The concert begins with French composer Emmanuel Chabrier's vibrant orchestral showpiece of 1883, Espana. This is followed by the UK premiere of Fandangos, by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra, a piece influenced by the 18th-century compositions of Antonio Soler. The charismatic Siberian violinist Maxim Vengerov is the soloist in another Spanish-tinged work by a Frenchman, Edouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole - a violin concerto in all but name which won the composer the praise of Tchaikovsky.
Following the interval, William Walton's centenary is celebrated with a performance of his dionysian cantata, Belshazzar's Feast, which vividly depicts the fall of Babylon and begins a survey of Old Testament tales within this year's Proms season.
The concert, which is also broadcast on Radio 3 and the internet, is conducted by Leonard Slatkin, with bass-baritone Willard White and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, who are joined by the Choral Arts Society of Washington.
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(BBC Proms Guide 2002: price £5.00, from bookshops or music retailers) (Viva la musical: page 27)