Rapture captured: instrumentalists and singers at the 2019 BBC Proms

A second selection of Chris Christodoulou's more telling shots from full houses last year

by TheartsdeskFriday, 28 August 2020

Nicola Benedetti with Mark Wigglesworth and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 2019's Prom 12All images by Chris Christodoulou

As two weeks of livestreamed Proms begin tonight, we just want to be there in the Royal Albert Hall.

The exuberance of our lead picture tells one story of a Prom which had to be witnessed live to be believed: the annual visit of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain last year, with brilliant Auerbach and Prokofiev under Mark Wigglesworth, and much-loved Nicola Benedetti uniting with them in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

Chris Christodoulou is always in a unique position, usually putting his camera unnoticed through the velvet curtains at the top of various sets of stairs to the Albert Hall stalls. This year he'll be one of the few people in the hall other than the singers, players and conductors, and they'll find it hard to touch the ecstasy spots without the Prommers in front of them, but fingers crossed there will be some more memorable captures of what it means to perform together. Click on the images below for the full picture.

Nemanja Radulović with Kirill Karabits (Prom 4)

Yeol Um Son (Prom 7)

Stuart Skelton (Prom 18)

Alexander Melnikov (Prom 19)

Pekka Kuusisto (Prom 20)

Joyce DiDonato with Antonio Pappano and the National Youth Orchestra of the USA

Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim (Prom 34)

Martha Argerich (Prom 34)

Stephen Hough (Prom 40)

Stephen Hough and Alessandro Fisher (Prom 40

Gerald Finley (Prom 44)

Sheku Kanneh-Mason (Prom 46)

Sarah Connolly (Prom 53)

Jamie Barton with Sakari Oramo (Last Night of the Proms)

This year Chris Christodoulou will be one of the few people in the hall other than the performers

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