Chineke! plays Shostakovich at the Proms

Experience the ‘electric atmosphere’ of a performance by the Chineke! Orchestra – Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra. Conducted by Jonathon Heyward, together they perform Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony: over 50 minutes of brutality, violence, despair and terror, followed by two minutes of triumph. A portrait of life – and death – in Stalin’s Russia, it’s a fierce act of musical testimony. The Prom opens with the steady thrum of Coleridge-Taylor’s orchestral dance The Bamboula, while works by US composers Valerie Coleman and James Lee III form the concert’s American-accented centre.

Seats from £15 to £66 (plus booking fee). On sale 17 May 2025.

Broadcast on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer this season