Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra kick off this season’s live offering with a specially commissioned work by English composer Hannah Kendall. Tuxedo: Vasco ‘de’ Gama – its title a quote from American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s iconic matrix of hieroglyphs, symbols and words – launches a voyage across the Atlantic that takes us via Eric Whitacre’s tender Sleep, sung by the BBC Singers, to the expansive, desolate sound-world of Copland’s Quiet City.

For the concert’s climax we plunge into the stormy waters of Beethoven’s revolutionary ‘Eroica’ Symphony, noted by one early reviewer for its ‘strange modulations and violent transitions’ – a passionate musical vision of heroism.

This Prom will be broadcast for free at 19:30 BST on Friday 28 August 2020.
Please note that it will not be possible to have an audience at the Royal Albert Hall for this concert.