:00:33. > :00:39.History in the making tonight at the Royal Albert Hall as the first-ever
:00:40. > :00:45.female conductor, Marin Alsop, takes on the most famous classical music
:00:45. > :00:47.concert in the world. Welcome to the Last Night of the Proms 2013. It has
:00:47. > :00:51.been the most amazing season. Weeks Last Night of the Proms 2013. It has
:00:51. > :00:55.of glorious sunshine outside and two months of scorching music-making
:00:55. > :00:59.inside the Royal Albert Hall. Tonight, we are celebrating with the
:00:59. > :01:05.grandest of grand finales. Lots on the programme. We have Nigel Kennedy
:01:05. > :01:13.playing The Lark Ascending, we have music by Wagner, Verdi and Bernstein
:01:13. > :01:20.and a clutch of favourites sung by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. We
:01:20. > :01:25.have Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. The celebrations are
:01:25. > :01:29.spilling out to Proms in the Park events throughout the UK. Press your
:01:29. > :01:33.red button to watch highlights of those at any time tonight.
:01:33. > :01:38.There are Proms in the Park events in Belfast, Caerphilly, Glasgow and
:01:38. > :01:44.in Hyde Park. Later, everyone will come together for one of the newest
:01:44. > :01:50.Proms traditions singing You'll Never Walk Alone. We have over 200
:01:50. > :01:52.musicians here on stage, the magnificent BBC Symphony Orchestra
:01:52. > :02:07.and the BBC Symphony Chorus. They are raring to go. Well, that
:02:07. > :02:09.applause there for the leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Stephen
:02:09. > :02:19.Bryant. Before the music gets under way, we
:02:19. > :02:24.have a vital Last Night tradition of honouring the Founder of the Proms
:02:24. > :02:31.Sir Henry Wood by placing laurels on the bust of the man himself. Doing
:02:31. > :02:38.the honours are two dedicated Promenaders, Paul Davies, and Roger
:02:38. > :02:46.Greenwood, who says he's attended over 1,500 Proms in his lifetime.
:02:46. > :02:55.That bust of Sir Henry Wood lent to the BBC Proms each summer by the
:02:55. > :03:01.Royal Academy of Music. But on with the music. First up, we have a
:03:01. > :03:05.brand-new fanfare especially written for tonight by Anna Clyne. It is
:03:05. > :03:10.called Masquerade. Coming on stage now to a huge cheer to conduct the
:03:10. > :03:17.BBC Symphony Orchestra, the American conductor, Marin Alsop.
:03:18. > :04:09.MUSIC: "Masquerade" by Anna Clyne
:04:09. > :08:27.MUSIC: "Masquerade" by Anna Clyne
:08:27. > :08:43.Masquerade by Anna Clyne, our curtain-raiser to Last Night of the
:08:43. > :08:51.Proms. The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. I think we
:08:51. > :08:56.got a glimpse of Anna Clyne, just 33, born in Britain but now living
:08:56. > :09:00.in America. There she is, dedicating Masquerade to the Prommers, that
:09:00. > :09:05.committed bunch of music lovers who stand down in the arena at the Royal
:09:05. > :09:14.Albert Hall and are cheering her to the rafters. Next up, we have music
:09:14. > :09:21.from Richard Wagner whose 200th anniversary we have been celebrating
:09:21. > :09:22.all season. This is Wagner's Overture to the Mastersingers of
:09:22. > :19:12.Nuremberg. Wagner's Overture to the
:19:12. > :19:23.Mastersingers of Nuremberg, performed by the BBC Symphony
:19:24. > :19:31.Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop. A major Wagner anniversary this
:19:31. > :19:44.year. We have been celebrating it at the Proms. Next, we will be hearing
:19:44. > :19:47.music close to Marin Alsop's heart, Leonard Bernstein's Chichester
:19:47. > :19:51.Psalms. Marin studied conducting with Bernstein. She really
:19:51. > :19:55.understands his music. Someone else who knows a thing or two about
:19:55. > :19:59.Leonard Bernstein, is Julian Joseph, who is my guest tonight. Welcome to
:19:59. > :20:02.the Last Night of the Proms. who is my guest tonight. Welcome to
:20:02. > :20:08.Pleasure to be here. My goodness! I know. Quite the event. Bernstein, we
:20:08. > :20:13.know him as a conductor and composer of West Side Story. How do you
:20:13. > :20:19.define his music? His music encapsulates so much of the
:20:19. > :20:30.classical tradition, whether it is the German tradition of writing, or
:20:30. > :20:35.the full classical gambit. He uses the blues and we will hear this in
:20:35. > :20:39.the next piece. There is something quintessentially American about his
:20:39. > :20:51.music? Absolutely. He has that signature sound. I think, possibly,
:20:51. > :20:54.after George Gershwin, he is one of the signatory composers that really
:20:54. > :21:00.brings that American sound forward. The fact that Marin learnt with him,
:21:00. > :21:05.does that mean she will be interpreting his music in a special
:21:05. > :21:07.way? Absolutely. If you know the composer, if you have a closeness
:21:07. > :21:12.way? Absolutely. If you know the with him and you have spoken to him
:21:12. > :21:19.about music, you will get an insight into how things really work. This is
:21:19. > :21:25.a curious woman. She's an incredible musician. I'm sure that studying
:21:25. > :21:29.with him, the questions were flying thick and fast. Not only that, he
:21:29. > :21:33.offered her some sense of process in terms of developing as that great
:21:33. > :21:37.musician we know her to be. She said she saw him conduct when she was
:21:37. > :21:41.seven or eight and that is what made her want to be a conductor. At a
:21:41. > :21:47.time when her teacher said, "Girls don't do that." Absolutely. She also
:21:47. > :21:57.went on to say he was somebody who bucked the trend and encouraged her
:21:57. > :22:05.to Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms was commissioned by the Dean
:22:05. > :22:13.of Chichester Cathedral. It sets the words of the Psalms in the original
:22:13. > :22:19.Hebrew. Here comes countertenor Iestyn Davies, along with Marin
:22:19. > :22:22.Alsop who will be conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus now in
:22:22. > :22:38.Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms.
:22:38. > :22:46.MUSIC: "The Chichester Psalms" by Leonard Bernstein
:22:46. > :40:35.Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms performed at the Last Night
:40:35. > :40:37.Leonard Bernstein's Chichester of the Proms by BBC Symphony
:40:37. > :40:44.Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by a former pupil of Bernstein, Marin
:40:44. > :40:50.Alsop, and the soloist was countertenor, Iestyn Davies. He is
:40:50. > :40:54.getting his Last Night gift from dedicated Prommer, Joan Sheppard.
:40:54. > :41:00.Joan has been to no fewer than 70 Proms this year - that's all but
:41:00. > :41:04.four! Iestyn Davies has been described as one of the most
:41:04. > :41:15.glorious countertenor voices in the world today.
:41:15. > :41:26.Next, we move from the unmistakeably American to the quintessentially
:41:26. > :41:35.English. Vaughan Williams' beautiful piece of The Lark Ascending. We are
:41:35. > :41:39.going to hear it performed by one of piece of The Lark Ascending. We are
:41:39. > :41:43.this country's greatest violin superstars, Nigel Kennedy. I asked
:41:43. > :41:54.him about the work when I caught up with him earlier.
:41:54. > :41:56.Nigel, you're playing The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams
:41:56. > :41:58.tonight which is a wonderful British piece of music
:41:58. > :42:00.for the Last Night of the Proms. Tell us about it.
:42:00. > :42:03.Well, it's very evocative of an old time in the past in England
:42:03. > :42:06.when the lark actually did exist in the countryside
:42:06. > :42:11.and it's very descriptive of the lark flying and gliding on thermals
:42:11. > :42:17.So it's a beautiful reminiscent image
:42:17. > :42:20.of how the rural agriculture used to be.
:42:20. > :42:25.This work in particular, it's not a virtuosic work
:42:25. > :42:28.so it's a pleasure to play it because you are not having to think
:42:28. > :42:33.really about virtuosity and practising all the notes.
:42:33. > :42:36.You're getting into the mood. And the thematic material,
:42:36. > :42:40.it's shared equally between all the instruments.
:42:40. > :42:44.So you have clarinet with a fragment then you've got horn with a fragment
:42:44. > :42:46.and the violin is just part of it but it kind of holds it together.
:42:46. > :42:52.about performing here at the Last Night of the Proms.
:42:52. > :42:53.Even in the rehearsal, there's a lot of people in there
:42:53. > :42:55.who haven't managed to get tickets to the gig.
:42:55. > :42:57.You know, seeing the people, the enthusiasm for it.
:42:57. > :42:58.And even in Poland, where I live half the time,
:42:58. > :43:01.it's being relayed there and all over the world.
:43:01. > :43:03.So it's something for the whole world,
:43:03. > :43:11.celebrating beautiful classical music.
:43:11. > :43:15.Nigel Kennedy does cross musical boundaries, performing classical,
:43:15. > :43:19.folk and jazz. Another great boundaries, performing classical,
:43:19. > :43:22.experimenter is still with me, Julian Joseph. The way he mixes it
:43:22. > :43:28.up with the way he plays classical work is quite inspirational? It is
:43:28. > :43:37.very inspirational. He is a musician who sees no boundaries, who wants to
:43:37. > :43:40.dip into all of the ways of expressing that furious technique
:43:40. > :43:45.that he has. It is great that he has an interest in folk because it lends
:43:45. > :43:50.itself to the violin, his interest in jazz and the experimenting, and
:43:50. > :43:56.it enables him to work hard. Vaughan Williams started writing The Lark
:43:56. > :44:05.Ascending in 1914 on the eve of the First World War. He is now coming on
:44:05. > :44:10.to the stage to perform The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
:44:11. > :44:14.I am expecting to see that familiar figure come on to the stage any
:44:14. > :44:26.minute now. Here he is. A face we know and love at the BBC Proms, with
:44:26. > :44:33.Marin Alsop. Shaking the hand of leader Stephen Bryant. The BBC
:44:33. > :44:34.Symphony Orchestra standing by to perform Ralph Vaughan Williams' The
:44:34. > :44:46.Lark Ascending. MUSIC: "The Lark Ascending"
:44:46. > :00:43.by Vaughan Williams So, the bird flies away at the end
:00:43. > :00:48.of The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, performed
:00:48. > :01:04.beautifully by Nigel Kennedy, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted
:01:04. > :01:08.by Marin Alsop. Vaughan Williams once wrote that music preserves the
:01:08. > :01:41.identity of the soul of the nation. Nigel Kennedy has got a very busy
:01:41. > :01:45.night. He is about to race over to Hyde Park before returning to the
:01:45. > :01:49.Royal Albert Hall for the second half of tonight's concert. The BBC
:01:49. > :01:52.Symphony Orchestra needs a moment for the stage to be reset. The
:01:52. > :01:57.orchestra is known as the backbone of the Proms. This is their 11th
:01:57. > :02:01.concert since opening the Proms in mid-July. It is the BBC Symphony
:02:01. > :02:05.Chorus who are going to be thrust into the limelight next. They too
:02:05. > :02:10.are keen members of the Proms family. They are all volunteers. We
:02:10. > :02:18.met some of them in rehearsals to find out more about them and about
:02:18. > :02:23.the music they are singing tonight. It is a bit mind-blowing to begin
:02:23. > :02:27.with to think I used to be watching this and now I'm in it. It is a
:02:27. > :02:33.great privilege to take part in musical events in this country at
:02:33. > :02:37.the highest standard. We are from all walks of life. People come from
:02:37. > :02:44.far and wide because it's such a good chorus to be part of. The end
:02:44. > :02:48.of a busy Monday is a rehearsal here and a wonderful opportunity to
:02:48. > :02:52.release some of that energy that you have had to build-up during the
:02:52. > :02:56.working day. You have to be fully committed and fully involved in that
:02:57. > :03:02.time and that means that you gain space from however mad the rest of
:03:02. > :03:06.your life is. Preparing for the Last Night, you have up to four
:03:06. > :03:10.rehearsals a week. You start to feel like a family. It is great. It
:03:10. > :03:15.helped me a lot when I moved here and knew nobody. We get to work with
:03:15. > :03:20.these great conductors who I watched on the TV. Marin Alsop and also
:03:20. > :03:22.Joyce DiDonato, who I heard so many on the TV. Marin Alsop and also
:03:22. > :03:33.years ago. Now I can be on the stage on the TV. Marin Alsop and also
:03:33. > :03:37.with her. It is great. The Britten was written for the opening of
:03:37. > :03:46.Snape. The singing we are doing was first sung by local amateur choirs.
:03:46. > :03:51.Singing together is one of the greatest things you can do. It is
:03:51. > :03:56.just sheer elation when you know you have sung every dynamic, every
:03:56. > :04:00.expression, every note and you stand up at the end and you hear the
:04:00. > :04:11.audience, there is no better feeling in the world. Very good. We are
:04:11. > :04:16.going to witness that joy and enthusiasm in a minute. The BBC
:04:16. > :04:20.Symphony Chorus and Orchestra are poised on stage. We are ready to
:04:20. > :04:25.hear that piece by one of this year's birthday boys, Benjamin
:04:25. > :04:34.Britten, who was born 100 years ago. I'm sure you remember that
:04:34. > :04:39.performance on the First Night. Here is Marin Alsop to conduct the BBC
:04:39. > :04:42.Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Benjamin Britten's overture to The
:04:42. > :04:54.Building of the House. MUSIC: "The Building Of The House"
:04:54. > :28:23.by Benjamin Britten could all agree with that tonight.
:28:23. > :28:28.The aria that we just heard, as you may have gathered, is a celebratory
:28:28. > :28:33.kind of tune, a huge celebration indeed, the opera's heroine has won
:28:33. > :28:39.the man she loves and it's a happy ending for the opera. It's a happy
:28:39. > :28:49.ending with this half of tonight's concert too.
:28:49. > :28:54.Coming back on stage with such obvious delight at the response
:28:54. > :29:01.she's got here in the hall. What a star. It's the first time she
:29:01. > :29:05.and Marin have worked together. Indeed it's Marin's first time
:29:05. > :29:10.working with Joyce and Nigel this evening. She describes them as two
:29:10. > :29:13.exceptional, unique, high-volume Taj artists, the word she used was
:29:13. > :29:29."dynamite". Joyce last appeared at the Proms in
:29:29. > :29:38.2009 singing other arias by Handel. She made her debut in 2007 singing
:29:38. > :29:51.Rossini. She's loved here, clearly. They want her back, don't they?
:29:51. > :29:59.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE She couldn't resist it.
:29:59. > :30:06.Thanking the orchestra. The audience, all of them on their feet.
:30:06. > :30:10.You know Joyce is one of seven children. She grew up in a very
:30:10. > :30:15.musical household in Kansas. She showed an early talent for singing.
:30:15. > :30:20.Her father, who was a church choir director, first introduced her to op
:30:20. > :30:23.ra. She is, of course, going to be back
:30:23. > :30:27.in the second half of tonight's concert. We wouldn't let her get
:30:27. > :30:30.away so easily, singing all sorts of different kind of repertoire,
:30:30. > :30:35.including Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
:30:36. > :30:40.Well, what a way to end the first half of tonight's concert. This prom
:30:40. > :30:43.is the last of a season of many, many concerts stretching back to
:30:43. > :30:45.mid-July and the first night. Remember that? Here are some of our
:30:45. > :32:03.favourite highlights. An unforgettable summer of music at
:32:03. > :33:26.the BBC Proms. That is all for now An unforgettable summer of music at
:33:26. > :33:30.here on BBC Two. But join me in a few minutes on BBC One, after the
:33:30. > :33:32.news at 9. 20pm, when the festivities continue. Have your
:33:32. > :33:34.flags at the ready. I'll see you there.