Performer: Jonathan Nott

Heroes emerge in adversity, and there are sterling turns from Leigh Melrose as a pugilistic Golaud and from the venerable Arkel of Matthew Best.

Seven months ago, when Tokyo’s musical scene was brought to a standstill by the Covid-19 pandemic, it was hard to envisage any orchestra performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by December, an important year-end custom in Japan.

A century on from its birth, one of Switzerland’s leading orchestras finally makes its Proms debut in a scintillating programme of French and Russian music.

The Tokyo Symphony gave the Japanese première of Shostakovich's Tenth in 1954, less than a year after its first performance in Leningrad. Jonathan Nott’s approach could scarcely have been more different. 

Jonathan Nott, Johannes Moser, and the CSO portray a traditional program in particularly evocative fashion

The Concertgebouworkest's series based on 'the sublime' continues with an eclectic programme of Ockeghem, Ligeti, Varèse and Ravel at the Concertgebouw.