Sam Smith and Florence Welch make BBC Proms debut

The summer music festival features 90 concerts and more than 3,000 musicians over eight weeks, taking place at the Royal Albert Hall as well as Bristol, Nottingham and Gateshead.

The Proms started in 1895 as a series of concerts to showcase classical and modern music. Since 1927, the BBC has organised and broadcast them with the series now billed as "the world's greatest classical music festival."

US opera singer Angel Blue performs at the Last Night of The Proms (Image: Dario Acosta)

Alongside star classical soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yunchan Lim, Víkingur Ólafsson, Sheku, Braimah and Isata Kanneh-Mason, this year sees orchestral collaborations with non-classical artists and tributes to different musical genres.

Welch, of indie band Florence + The Machine, makes her BBC Proms debut, and only UK appearance this year, performing her BRIT Award-winning 2009 album Lungs, with Jules Buckley and his orchestra.

Florence Welch performers her hit album Lungs at the Proms (Image: PA)

Oscar winning singer Sam Smith makes their only live UK appearance this year, performing their music in new orchestral arrangements.

And Tinariwen performs a Late Night Prom, featuring their pioneering mix of Tuareg and African music with Western rock.

The programme will also feature the first ever Disco Prom, celebrating the music of the late 1970s during New York’s Studio 54, and tributes to folk-rock artist Nick Drake, jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, and film composer Henry Mancini.Sam Smith makes their only UK appearance this year at the Proms singing their own music with orchestral accompaniment (Image: PA)

Running from July 19 to September 14, the Proms will also welcome some of the world's finest orchestras and artists to the Albert Hall; The Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko; The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, Jakub Hrůša conducting the Czech Philharmonic, and the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra with star conductor Daniel Barenboim.

Music will range from Bruckner and Mahler to Verdi's Requiem and Bach's St John Passion, and more than 20 premieres of new music.

The First Night of the Proms, presented by Clive Myrie, features the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elim Chan, with soloists Isata Kanneh-Mason and Sophie Bevan.

Star conductor Sir Simon Rattle leads one of the 90 proms (Image: Mark Allan)
 
There's also a three concert celebration of choral singing featuring both amateur and professional choirs - including the BBC Singers.

BBC Radio 3 will reach millions of listeners by broadcasting every Prom, with Radio 1 and Radio 2 broadcasting sine highlights, and 24 concerts available on TV and iPlayer, including the world-famous Last Night of the Proms, presented by Katie Derham.  
 
Sam Jackson, Controller, Radio 3 says: "Nowhere other than Radio 3 can audiences hear the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony and West–Eastern Divan Orchestras, alongside concerts celebrating the music of Doctor Who, 1970s disco and choral singing.

"Huge thanks to David Pickard, who has programmed a remarkable season, with something that caters to every musical taste."

Family events and concerts include a Doctor Who Prom, and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Plínio Fernandes and Fantasia Orchestra performing a programme of folk songs, dances, prayers and incantations
 
The innovative Aurora Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Ninth by Heart, marking the 200th-anniversary of Beethoven’s monumental ninth symphony, alongside the BBC Singers and National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

The performance will be preceded by a dramatised introduction exploring the background of the work, composed amid Beethoven’s hearing loss and personal tragedy.

It will be presented by conductor Nicholas Collon and feature actor Rhiannon May and actor/BSL interpreter Tom Simper, with British Sign Language throughout. 
 
David Pickard, Director, BBC Proms says: "This year’s Proms season is one of the most ambitious we have ever presented. With a total of 90 concerts, audiences can look forward to the starriest international artists and orchestras in a programme that encompasses the very best in classical and orchestral music.

"It has been an absolute honour leading the world’s greatest classical music festival for nearly a decade, and I hope audiences will find much to enjoy this summer."

General booking for the BBC Proms opens at 9am on Saturday 18 May www.bbc.co.uk/proms