Artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Anne-Sophie Mutter will feature in the upcoming season

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Running from 19 July to 14 September this year, the programme for the 2024 BBC Proms was announced on 25 April. A star-studded lineup was unveiled, with renowned orchestras, conductors and soloists from every corner of the globe convening for the world’s largest classical music festival. String soloists, some returning and others making their Proms debut, will perform an array of repertoire, from staple favourites to premieres. Here is an integral list of all string performances.

Prom 10: 26 July

In an all-British programme, British cellist Laura van der Heijden will perform Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Cello Concerto: Earth, Sea, Air, which the cellist premiered in May 2023. She will be joined by conductor Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish Symphony, who will also perform Elgar’s Symphony no.2 and Britten’s Gloriana symphonic suite. 

Prom 16: 31 July

British violist Lawrence Power will perform a BBC co-commission of Cassandra Miller’s Viola Concerto: I cannot love without trembling. The work is part of the Power’s V10LA project in collaboration with the Viola Collaborating Circle to premiere 10 viola concertos by 2030. The violist will be accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by John Storgårds.

Prom 19: 3 August

Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen will be making her Proms debut, performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto. She will be joined by Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 

Prom 20: 4 August

A regular of the BBC Proms, British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, alongside his violinist brother Braimah, will be presenting a collection of folk songs, dances, prayers and incantations. The programme will include works by Bob Marley, Brahms, Antonio Jobim, Stevie Wonder, and Kanneh-Mason himself. They will be joined by Brazilian pianist Plínio Fernandes, conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh and the Fantasia Orchestra. The programme will be repeated on 5 August as a Relaxed Prom. 

Prom 26: 8 August

In his Proms debut, German violinist Tobias Feldmann will be performing the ever-popular Beethoven Violin Concerto. He will be accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Anja Bihlmaier. 

Prom 31: 11 August

A star-studded lineup will see violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and conductor Daniel Barenboim perform the Brahms Violin Concerto. They will be joined by the groundbreaking West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, formed in 1999 by Barenboim and Edward Said to bring together young Arab and Israeli musicians. 

Prom 38: 18 August

Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta will be joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Tianyi Liu in the UK premiere of Spanish composer Francisco Coll’s Cello Concerto, originally written for Gabetta. 

Prom 41: 20 August

In an all-Mozart programme, British violist Timothy Ridout and South Korean-German violinist Clara-Jumi Kang will perform Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante, alongside the composer’s The Marriage of Figaro overture, Don Giovanni overture and Symphony no.41. They will be joined by Ensemble Resonanz and conductor Riccardo Minasi.

Prom 49: 27 August

In her Proms debut, Russian cellist Anastasia Kobekina will perform the popular Dvořák Cello Concerto alongside the Czech Philharmonic and Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša in an all-Czech programme, which will also include Suk’s Symphony no.2. 

Prom 54: 31 August

Power trio Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos and Emanuel Ax will present an all-Beethoven programme. It will include the composer’s Piano Trio ‘Ghost’ in D major, an arrangement of his First Symphony, and his Piano Trio in E flat major. 

Prom 67: 9 September

The electrifying Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will return to the BBC Proms, this time performing Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. The programme will also include Shostakovich’s Symphony no.5 and Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on ’Greensleeves’.

Prom 70: 12 September

In the final string performance of the festival, Franco-Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulović will present the enduring Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. It will feature alongside excerpts of Prokoviev’s Romeo and Juliet, played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conducted by Jaime Martín.

Best of Technique

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

Masterclass

The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.

Calendars

American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.

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