Academy musicians at the 2026 BBC Proms

We are excited to return to the BBC Proms, the world's largest and longest-running classical music festival, this summer. This will be the fourth time in 20 years Academy students have performed at the Royal Albert Hall alongside The Juilliard School.

An orchestra comprising 46 students from each conservatoire will perform a programme of three major 20th century works under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen and with solo violinist Vilde Frang. The concert will feature Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Berg’s Violin Concerto. This programme will also be performed at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York on 7 August.

As well as the Academy’s concert on 10 August, alumni and teaching staff will take to the BBC Proms stages across the summer. Concerts featuring alumni include:

• Sought-after guitarist Rafael Aguirre performs Rodrigo's celebrated Concierto de Aranjuez with the National Orchestra of Spain (19 July)
• Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Wake-Edwards sings as a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (20 July)
• In the North East, Helena Gourd plays the flute in Crippled Symmetry at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music (24 July)
• Violinist Maria Włoszczowska directs the Royal Northern Sinfonia in a programme of Mozart and Mendelssohn (25 July)
• The works of Iain Farrington and John Tavener will be performed by the voices of the North East at Choirs on the Concourse (25 July)
• On 27 July Edward Gardner returns to the Proms to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a series of nature-inspired works

• Adam Hickox travels to Bristol Beacon to conduct a programme of Russian classics (8 August)
• Tom Fetherstonhaugh leads two performances: a relaxed matinee celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence (9 August) and Evelyn Glennie and the Fantasia Orchestra (11 August), where Evelyn Glennie offers her masterful percussion skills to a genre-busting programme
• David Butt Philip and Ru Charlesworth perform the roles of Bacchus and Dancing Master respectively in Glyndebourne’s Ariadne auf Naxos (18 August)
• Jonathon Heyward conducts the Chineke! Orchestra and Angel Blue on 22 August
• Violinist Simone Ramsma performs a celebration of English music with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (4 September)
• Sir Simon Rattle conducts three works by Schumann on 7 September

You can also see the Academy's teaching staff throughout the festival:

• Henry Wood Chair of Conducting John Wilson will take to the podium, leading the Sinfonia of London for two performances: Respighi’s ‘Roman Trilogy’ (24 July) and a programme of English music for strings (6 September)
• Guy Johnston, Professor of Cello, will perform Silbelius' Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 40 with works by Britten and Turnage on 28 July
• A world premiere of Visiting Professor Brett Dean’s The World’s Wife will take place on 29 July, conducted by Richard Rodney Bennett Professor of Music Ryan Wigglesworth. Ryan Wigglesworth then returns to the festival to celebrate 90 years of the BBC Symphony Orchestra on 9 September
• Visiting Professor Nicky Spence will sing the title role in Weber’s Oberon, conducted by the Academy's Barbirolli Chair of Conducting Sir Mark Elder (6 August). Nicky will also close the festival at the Last Night of the Proms on 12 September
• Visiting Professor Colin Currie conducts and performs in Steve Reich at 90 on 2 September
• Alum and Professor of Jazz Piano Gwilym Simcock’s new Triple Concerto will be performed alongside Dvořák’s famous Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 on 6 September. Gwilym’s new composition will feature alum Sheku Kanneh-Mason

You can book for the Academy’s performance at the BBC Proms by visiting the Royal Albert Hall website here. To view the full list of BBC Proms events, visit the BBC Proms website.