The programme for the 2019 BBC Proms has been revealed today by the Proms Director, David Pickard, with a season that runs from July 19 to September 14. As always, various themes and strands run through the season which marks 150 years since the birthday of the Proms founder Sir Henry Wood (33 works that Wood introduced at the Proms are being reprised, with another 33 receiving their first performances). It's also 50 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing so the theme of sound in space is being explored.

As always, the Proms will be welcoming the greatest ensembles of our time including the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink (with Murray Perahia in Beethoven), the Bavarian RSO under Mariss Jansons, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (in a complete performance of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini), the Gewandhausorchester and Andris Nelsons, the Orchestre de Paris and Daniel Harding, and the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov. There will also be guest appearances by Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Joyce DiDonato and Sir Antonio Pappano as well as the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under Long Yu.

Many musicians of the younger generation will perform, including 12 alumni of the New Generation Artists scheme, as well as Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Eric Lu and Asmik Grigorian.

Numerous premieres will be heard including a 21st-century companion to Elgar’s Enigma Variations. On an anonymous theme, 14 living composers - including Sally Beamish, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Dai Fujikura and Judith Weir - will write variations. Other featured composers, celebrating major anniversaries will be Louis Andriessen at 80, Peter Eötvös at 75 and Sir James MacMillan at 60.

General booking opens on May 11. 

Gramophone’s Editor Martin Cullingford caught up with the BBC Proms’ Director David Pickard for a Gramophone Podcast. 

You can listen to the Podcast above. To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone Magazine' in your Podcast application of choice, or visit Gramophone's page at iTunes. 

Photo: BBC / Thane Bruckland