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Written near to his death, Claudio Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea – a Roman tale of obsession, jealousy and betrayal – launched the medium of opera onto the stage and in doing so changed the course of music history forever.

For its centenary concert – given on 11th September 2011, in Cheltenham, and at Poole Lighthouse on Tuesday 13th September – Bournemouth Symphony Chorus paid tribute to those who fell victim to the catastrophic act of terrorism that shook the world ten years before.

Themes of spirituality and religion pervaded the fourth and final chamber music prom of this BBC Proms season.

In many senses, Brahms is a 'marmite' composer. He is rarely met with indifference. Whilst some glorify the power and force of his orchestral writing, others shy away from this Germanic 'heaviness'; whilst some idolize his ability to weave passages and themes through one another to culminate in fierce climaxes, others condemn a fragmented and 'academic' style of writing.