Pete Tong's Ibiza Prom was at once accessible and authentic, uncompromising in its commitment to the art of dance, rightly unapologetic and unabashed by its unfamiliar surroundings. Long may we continue.
Superb appearances from Stormzy and Wretch 32 were highlights of a well-constructed evening of grime from BBC Radio 1 Xtra, displaying the genre in all its troubled glory.
Pete Tong's Ibiza Prom was at once accessible and authentic, uncompromising in its commitment to the art of dance, rightly unapologetic and unabashed by its unfamiliar surroundings. Long may we continue.
The enthusiasm with which Laura Mvula had promoted her Late Night Prom on the radio, in the press and on Twitter in the preceding few days was tangible the minute she walked on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, resplendent in a black gown with silver embellishments.
It is fair to say that urban and classical music would not normally share an audience, let alone a stage, but, in the first-ever Urban Classic Prom, rising and established stars of the urban music scene met and collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under dynamic young conductor (and arranger of some of the evening’s numbers) Jules Buckley, in a showcase of two very different musical culture
Have you ever been in a chorus of 5,000 people singing the words of an Indian takeaway menu to the tune of Nessun Dorma? Well, courtesy of Kit and the Widow, Susan Bullock and the BBC Comedy Prom, I now have. Of course, the delight of the Proms audience is that not only did everyone know the tune, but a large majority were able to sing it quite competently: it really sounded more than decent.
Sebastian has written about music for the Daily Telegraph, Prospect, Arts Industry and the Bulletin in Brussels. He has been a professor at the Royal College of Music and has recorded a CD of the Mozart clarinet quintet with the Maggini Quartet.
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