The 2025 BBC Proms season concludes in celebratory style with the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 13 September at the Royal Albert Hall. This year’s festival finale marks the 50th anniversary of Queen’s iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, with a landmark performance of the opera-inspired song featuring Sir Brian May, Roger Taylor and rising West End star, Sam Oladeinde.
Comedian Bill Bailey makes his BBC Proms debut, with a performance of Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter.
Conductor Elim Chan leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers, joined by acclaimed soprano Louise Alder and celebrated trumpeter Alison Balsom. The programme also includes two world premieres commissioned by the BBC: Fireworks by Camille Pépin and The Gathering Tree by Rachel Portman, the latter being the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Audiences can expect a rich programme of music, from symphonic and choral works to opera arias, musical theatre medleys and all the traditional Last Night favourites.
Katie Derham will present the Last Night of the Proms on TV and BBC iPlayer and will be joined by special guests Nick Mohammed, Golda Schultz and Gareth Malone while Tina Daheley will be reporting on all the backstage excitement. The broadcast will be live in two parts: Part 1 on BBC Two from 6.55pm and the Finale on BBC One at 9pm.
BBC Radio 3 begins broadcasting live from the Royal Albert Hall from 7pm, hosted by Petroc Trelawny and Georgia Mann.
Sam Jackson, Controller of Radio 3 and the BBC Proms, says: “This year’s Last Night of the Proms promises to be a true celebration of musical excellence. Our 86-concert season concludes with a stellar line-up of talent and two world premieres: a fitting finale to a summer marked by packed concert halls and record-breaking digital consumption of the Proms on BBC Sounds and iPlayer.”
Suzy Klein, Head of Arts and Classical Music TV, says: “The BBC Proms 2025 season has been an unprecedented hit with audiences across BBC television and streaming platforms. At the halfway point of the season, TV viewing was up nearly 50% year-on-year, and as of last week, audience figures reached their highest since 2019, at nearly six million. That all points to a growing desire from people across the country to access and enjoy the very finest classical performances, and we are so proud of the range and quality of concerts we’ve broadcast this season. And it’s not over yet – beyond the Last Night, there will be treats well into autumn when audiences can enjoy JADE at Gateshead, St. Vincent and The Traitors Prom.”
Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor say: “What a splendid way to celebrate a Queen masterpiece in its 50th year: Bohemian Rhapsody performed with a 100-piece BBC Symphony Orchestra and a choir of over 150 singers – on the most prestigious night of the year in The Royal Albert Hall. Freddie will be loving it!”
Last Night of the Proms Programme
Modest Mussorgsky A Night on the Bare Mountain (original version, 1867)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel Trumpet Concerto in E flat major with Alison Balsom
Lucy Walker Today with BBC Singers (a cappella)
Aruthur Benjamin ‘Storm Clouds’ Cantata 1956 – UK premiere with Axelle Saint-Cirel, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Charles Gounod Faust – ‘O Dieu! que de bijoux … Ah! je ris de me voir’ (Jewel Song) with Louise Alder
Franz Lehár The Merry Widow – Es lebt’ eine Vilja’ (Vilja Song) sung in German, with Louise Alder, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Camille Pépin Fireworks (BBC commission: world premiere)
Paul Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
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Freddie Mercury/Queen, arr. Stuart Morley Bohemian Rhapsody with Sam Oladeinde, Louise Alder, Alison Balsom, BBC Singers, National Youth Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus and special guest appearances from Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor
Dmitri Shostakovich Festive Overture
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, arr. Paul Campbell My Fair Lady – medley (Wouldn’t it be Loverly – Without You – On the Street Where you Live – Show Me – I Could Have Danced All Night) with Louise Alder and BBC Singers
Leonard Bernstein, arr. Simon Wright Prelude, Fugues and Riffs – Riffs with Alison Balsom
Leroy Anderson, arr. Alasdair Malloy The Typewriter with Bill Bailey
Rachel Portman and text: Nick Drake The Gathering Tree (BBC commission: world premiere) with BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Trad., arr. Henry Wood Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Thomas Arne, arr. Malcolm Sargent Rule, Britannia! Verses 1, 3, 6 with Louise Alder
Edward Elgar Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
Hubert Parry, arr. Edward Elgar Jerusalem
arr. Benjamin Britten The National Anthem
Trad., arr. Paul Campbell Auld Lang Syne
Performers
Louise Alder soprano
Alison Balsom trumpet
Axelle Saint-Cirel mezzo soprano (Storm Clouds Cantata)
Bill Bailey typewriter
Sam Oladeinde tenor (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor (Bohemian Rhapsody)
National Youth Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Chorus (chorusmaster: Neil Ferris)
BBC Singers
Elim Chan conductor
The Last Night of the Proms takes place on Saturday 13 September live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC iPlayer and in two parts: Part 1 on BBC Two from 6.55pm, and the Finale on BBC One at 9pm.
Now in its final week, the BBC Proms 2025 season has spanned eight weeks and featured 86 concerts, with 25 Proms programmes televised. So far, more than 6 million people have watched Proms content on TV, the biggest overnight audience at this point of the season since 2019.
Close to 290,000 tickets to Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and venues across the UK have been purchased so far. Over 6,000 people attended the BBC Proms in the North East, including over 4,500 experiencing a Prom for the first time. The season had a record-breaking opening weekend online, with over half a million streams alongside records for accounts and hours.
18 Proms programmes are currently available on BBC iPlayer. The JADE, St. Vincent and Traitors Proms will be broadcast on TV and iPlayer after the season.
JH/FE