.png)
Royal College of Music musicians take to the stage at the 2026 BBC Proms
Wednesday 13 May 2026
Students, alumni, professors and International Visiting Artists from the Royal College of Music (¶¶êŽÒ•îl) feature from the First to the Last Night of the 2026 BBC Proms, leading top orchestras, unveiling new works and performing masterful solos.
On the First Night of the Proms, alumna Josephine Stephenson’s That the sunrise not leave us unmoved, commissioned by the BBC, receives its world premiere. Throughout the season more works by ¶¶êŽÒ•îl composers are featured, including the debut of ¶¶êŽÒ•îl Research Fellow in Composition Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen Suite, adapted from his award-winning opera Festen, ¶¶êŽÒ•îl composition teacher Bushra El-Turk’s Mosaic, and another world premiere and BBC commission by alumnus Jacob Mühlrad.
Conductor and alumnus John Wilson appears twice during the 2026 Proms – first leading his Sinfonia of London for a programme of Respighi, Verdi and Walton, then later returning with the Sinfonia of London Strings. Esteemed conductor Vasily Petrenko, who joins the ¶¶êŽÒ•îl as an International Visiting Artist this September, conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor and Walton’s Second Symphony.
Alumni from the ¶¶êŽÒ•îl’s Vocal and Opera Faculty shine throughout this year’s festival. Star soprano Louise Alder returns following her dazzling performance in 2025’s Last Night of the Proms, to sing Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne. Tenor Laurence Kilsby performs with the Jupiter Ensemble for a late-night evening of baroque, and alumni Charlotte Bowden and Jessica Cale sing alongside ¶¶êŽÒ•îl International Visiting Artist Nicky Spence in Weber’s Oberon, conducted by Mark Elder. Alumnus and ¶¶êŽÒ•îl Fellow Gerald Finley sings as Méphistophélès in Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, while alumni Hugh Cutting and Nick Pritchard perform Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor.
[image1]
Alumna and International Visiting Artist Alina Ibragimova returns to the Proms to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, alumna Amy Harman features in the premiere of Thea Musgrave’s Bassoon Concerto, ‘Out of the Darkness’ and horn player Ben Goldscheider, an alumnus from the ¶¶êŽÒ•îl Junior Department, performs alongside fellow finalists from the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year 2016. Beyond soloists, many more ¶¶êŽÒ•îl alumni and professors will take to the stage as part of the world’s leading orchestras.
The talent of young musicians is showcased as 26 musicians from the ¶¶êŽÒ•îl Junior Department perform in the National Youth Orchestra, and on 30 August the Proms come to the ¶¶êŽÒ•îl, as new works by winners of the BBC Young Composer competition are receive their premieres at the College.
Find out more about studying at the Royal College of Music, where talented musicians are nurtured and trained to perform on the world’s biggest stages.
First image: Hugh Cutting (photo by Olivia Da Costa), Alina Ibragimova (photo by Joss McKinley) and Mark-Anthony Turnage (photo by Phil Rowley)