Friday 18 July 2025 at 6:45pm - 11pm

First Night of The Proms

Royal Albert Hall

BBC Proms presents: First Night of the Proms 2025

The crash of the seas, the crumbling of city walls and a glimpse of the heavens: all come together in the 2025 First Night. There’s a Scottish sound-picture from Mendelssohn and cool Nordic grandeur from Sibelius.Errollyn Wallen harnesses primal forces in her colourful new orchestral commission, while visions from the Book of Revelation are the starting point for Vaughan Williams’s Sancta civitas.  

Broadcast live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Programme: 

Bliss Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood 2’

Mendelssohn Overture ‘The Hebrides’ (Fingal’s Cave) 10’

Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor 35’ 

Interval

Errollyn Wallen The Elements. c10’

BBC commission: world premiere

Vaughan Williams Sancta civitas 30’ 

Lisa Batiashvili violin 

Caspar Singh tenor 

Gerald Finley bass baritone

BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, Members of London Youth Choirs, BBC Symphony Orchestra 

Sakari Oramo conductor