BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall: Copland, Kahane and Stravinsky
BBC Proms 2026 brings to the Royal Albert Hall a concert in which Aaron Copland's American open spaces, Igor Stravinsky's rhythmic and theatrical world, and new music by Gabriel Kahane meet. The programme "Copland and Stravinsky" is performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Ryan Bancroft, while the central solo moment belongs to clarinettist Anthony McGill.
The concert begins at 19:00, and the programme is shaped as a clearly rounded evening with two 20th-century ballet works and a contemporary clarinet concerto between them. Copland's Billy the Kid suite opens the programme, followed by Kahane's Clarinet Concerto "If love will not swing wide the gates", while after the interval Stravinsky's Petrushka in the 1947 version is scheduled.
It is a combination that clearly demonstrates what distinguishes the BBC Proms from a conventional series of individual concerts. Throughout the summer, the festival brings together major symphonic repertoire, new works, guest appearances by international orchestras and performers from different musical traditions in the same venue, while another distinctive feature is the culture of Promming - the possibility of attending concerts from standing places in the Arena and Gallery.
Tickets for this event are in demand. For visitors who want a specific seat, the simplest option is to plan their visit in advance, while Promming remains a characteristic festival alternative.
An evening of storytelling without words
Aaron Copland and his suite from the ballet Billy the Kid open the programme. The expected duration is approximately 22 minutes. The music begins with the story of the legendary outlaw of the American West, but Copland does not build merely a portrait of one person. The score contains scenes of vast landscapes, dances, popular melodic associations and sharp rhythmic transitions that create an almost cinematic sense of movement.
For audiences who do not regularly attend symphonic concerts, this is an accessible entry into the evening: the music has clear characters and easily recognisable changes of scene, while the orchestration remains detailed enough to reward attentive listening. At the Royal Albert Hall, such repertoire gains additional physical breadth because of the large space between the stage, the Arena, the boxes and the upper levels of the auditorium.
After Copland, Anthony McGill and Kahane's new clarinet concerto "If love will not swing wide the gates" move to the centre. The work lasts approximately 22 minutes, and the London performance has been announced as the European premiere. The concerto was written specifically for McGill, which gives the solo role a different context from the standard repertoire in which a performer interprets a work created decades or centuries before their own time.
The title of the work is connected with words by James Baldwin from the book The Fire Next Time. Kahane has explained that, while creating the composition, he was interested in the relationship among communities and the possibility of building a more humane society. His compositional work often connects concert forms with the sensibility of singer-songwriter and contemporary American music, so this part of the programme represents a sonic bridge between Copland's musical view of America and today's generation of American composers.
The work has already entered McGill's current repertoire. In April 2026, he performed it with the ensemble The Knights at Carnegie Hall in New York, where the concerto was presented as part of an American programme. The London appearance is therefore not merely a festival presentation of a new score, but a continuation of the collaboration between the composer and the clarinettist to whom the work is dedicated.
Anthony McGill at the centre of a new score
Anthony McGill is one of the most prominent American orchestral clarinettists of his generation. Since 2014, he has served as principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic. His appearance at the BBC Proms is not conceived as an isolated virtuoso addition between two orchestral works, but as the dramatic centre of the first half of the evening.
The clarinet in Kahane's composition has the ability to move between an intimate, vocally shaped tone and highly agile lines. That is precisely why the combination with McGill carries particular weight: the audience hears the musician for whom the concerto was created, rather than a later interpreter.
After approximately the first hour, there is a 25-minute interval. Returning to the hall leads into a completely different theatrical picture - Petrushka.
Petrushka and the programme's grand finale
Stravinsky's Petrushka is one of those works in which the orchestra almost assumes the role of the stage. BBC Proms announces the 1947 version, lasting approximately 34 minutes.
The action of the original ballet is set in a colourful fairground world, with puppets, including Petrushka, at its centre. Even without a ballet performance, the music retains powerful theatricality. Sudden cuts, dance rhythms, layers of melodies and changes in orchestral colours create the impression of different scenes appearing over one another.
Within the context of the entire evening, the choice of Petrushka has a clear logic. Billy the Kid and Petrushka were both created as ballet music, and both works create recognisable characters and settings without the need for words. The difference lies in their sound worlds: Copland evokes the American landscape and folk elements, while Stravinsky builds a noisy, fragmented and often ironic fairground space.
- Aaron Copland - Billy the Kid, suite - approximately 22 minutes
- Gabriel Kahane - Clarinet Concerto "If love will not swing wide the gates" - approximately 22 minutes - European premiere
- Interval - approximately 25 minutes
- Igor Stravinsky - Petrushka, 1947 version - approximately 34 minutes
- Anthony McGill - clarinet
- BBC National Orchestra of Wales
- Ryan Bancroft - conductor
Ryan Bancroft and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft has a relationship with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales that goes beyond an individual guest appearance. He has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 2021, while also leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. During the 2026 BBC Proms season, he appears several times with the Welsh orchestra, including the 17 August concert featuring Copland, Kahane and Stravinsky.
This is an important detail for the way the programme can be experienced. Bancroft does not arrive before an orchestra he is encountering for the first time at a festival rehearsal, but before an ensemble with which he works continuously. The evening's repertoire demands precisely that kind of precision: Copland requires rhythmic clarity and a sense of space, Kahane careful balance between soloist and ensemble, and Petrushka rapid changes of character, colour and pulse.
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs different programmes during the festival, which clearly illustrates the breadth of the Proms concept itself. The concert on 17 August nevertheless has a particularly recognisable identity because it connects the three composers through the idea of musical storytelling, rather than merely through chronology or nationality.
Why BBC Proms is different from a typical summer festival
The roots of the Proms go back to 1895, when the first series was held at London's Queen's Hall. The original idea was to bring concert music closer to a wider audience through a more accessible and less formal atmosphere. After Queen's Hall was destroyed during the Second World War, the Proms moved to the Royal Albert Hall in 1941, which has since become its main London venue.
The 2026 season runs from 17 July to 12 September. During those weeks, the programme is not limited to one orchestra or one type of repertoire. The same festival features symphonic concerts, new works, major vocal-instrumental programmes and projects that connect the classical concert tradition with other musical cultures.
Promming is one of the elements that continues to make this historical idea visible. Standing places in the Arena and Gallery are available for selected concerts, and the Royal Albert Hall states that around 1,000 such places are allocated for every Prom. Day Promming tickets become available on the day of the concert, subject to availability.
For audiences attending several concerts, season and weekend passes for the Promming zones are also available. A visitor coming only to "Copland and Stravinsky" can simply focus on the individual concert, while those planning several days in London can experience the Proms as a multi-day festival.
Royal Albert Hall as part of the experience
The Royal Albert Hall is not a neutral concert box. The building opened on 29 March 1871, and its present-day capacity depends on the event configuration and is around 5,500 people. The circular layout of the auditorium, the Arena at the centre and several levels of seating create a completely different relationship between the audience and the orchestra from that of a conventional rectangular concert hall.
The Proms has been present here since 1941, so the connection between the festival and the venue has become part of its identity. This is felt especially in the Arena, where Prommers stand directly in front of the stage. For a symphonic programme with a wide dynamic range - from a clarinet solo to Stravinsky's full orchestra - a position in the hall can significantly alter the subjective experience of the sound.
It is worth securing tickets in good time, especially if a particular level or part of the auditorium is important.
Evening schedule and when to arrive
A precise provisional schedule has been published for the concert. Restaurants and bars at the Royal Albert Hall open at 17:00. Entrances to the boxes and auditorium open at 18:00, and the concert begins at 19:00.
The interval is planned for around 20:00 and lasts approximately 25 minutes. The event is expected to finish at around 21:05. The timings are marked as approximate, so visitors should not plan onward transport with only a minimal time margin.
It is particularly important to avoid arriving late. For this Prom, the rule is that latecomers are not admitted to the auditorium until a suitable break in the performance occurs. With a programme consisting of longer orchestral sections, this can mean waiting through a substantial part of a composition.
Arriving by public transport
The Royal Albert Hall is located on Kensington Gore, along the southern edge of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. South Kensington, High Street Kensington and Lancaster Gate are among the Underground stations less than approximately one mile from the hall, but these routes do not provide complete step-free access from street to train.
For passengers who require step-free access, the Royal Albert Hall lists Green Park as one option, from where bus number 9 travels towards the hall. Bus routes 9, 52, 452 and night route N9 stop on Kensington Gore, while other routes also pass through the immediate area.
Victoria and Paddington are the nearest major railway stations, both approximately a 30-minute walk from the Royal Albert Hall, with the option of continuing by Underground or bus.
For visitors arriving in London earlier, the location makes it easy to combine the concert with other attractions in South Kensington. The Natural History Museum and Science Museum are in the immediate area, as are Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. This means there is no need to arrive in the neighbourhood only shortly before the doors open.
Entry, bags and food
The Royal Albert Hall applies a one-bag-per-visitor rule. A bag taken into the auditorium should not have a capacity greater than 25 litres, corresponding to approximate dimensions of 40 x 30 x 20 cm. All bags are subject to security checks, so it is sensible to allow additional time between arriving at the hall and the start of the concert.
Additional or larger bags must be left in the cloakroom. Food and drink may not be brought in from outside. Inside the hall there are several bars, cafés and restaurants, and according to the schedule for this concert they begin operating two hours before the performance starts.
The Royal Albert Hall operates cashlessly at sales points throughout the building, so a card or another supported form of contactless payment is required to purchase food, drinks or other items.
The organiser does not recommend bringing children under the age of five to this Prom. Accessible seating and additional services are available to visitors with accessibility needs, and planning such a visit is best done before the day of the concert.
What to expect if you are visiting the Proms for the first time
Formal evening wear is not required for most events at the Royal Albert Hall, and the Proms historically originated precisely around the idea of a more relaxed approach to concert music. The audience can therefore be very diverse: from visitors who attend several concerts during the season to tourists and listeners experiencing a large symphony orchestra for the first time.
For a first visit, it is useful to know a few things:
- arrive early enough for the security check and to find your entrance
- check the level and sector shown on your ticket because the Royal Albert Hall has a large number of separate doors
- if you have a Promming place, expect to stand during the performance
- do not rely on being able to enter immediately after the start because latecomers are admitted only when the programme allows
- if you are planning dinner or drinks in the hall, the facilities open before the auditorium itself
From a musical perspective, there is no need to know Billy the Kid or Petrushka in advance. Both works have a strong narrative character, while Kahane's concerto offers an immediate encounter with a work that is still creating its own performance history.
That is probably the most interesting feature of this evening: the programme does not try to isolate new music in a separate contemporary block, but places it between two works that are now part of the standard repertoire. In a single evening, the audience can therefore hear how the idea of storytelling through the orchestra has changed from Stravinsky and Copland to a composer who today writes for a specific living soloist.
Tickets for this event are currently on sale. For visitors already planning a stay in London, the evening offers one of the more clearly defined combinations of orchestral repertoire in the BBC Proms 2026 programme: three different musical languages, one orchestra and a programme ending with one of the most vivid scores of the early 20th century.
Sources:
- Royal Albert Hall - concert programme "Copland and Stravinsky", performers, repertoire, durations of the works, evening schedule and entry information
- Royal Albert Hall - BBC Proms 2026, duration of the festival season, Promming, Day Promming and season and weekend passes
- Royal Albert Hall - history of the hall and the BBC Proms, opening of the hall in 1871 and the move of the Proms to the Royal Albert Hall in 1941
- Royal Albert Hall - information on public transport, security checks, bags, food and visitor facilities
- New York Philharmonic - biographical information about Anthony McGill and his position as the orchestra's principal clarinet
- Gabriel Kahane - information about the composition "If love will not swing wide the gates", its concept and the composer's work
- Carnegie Hall - performance of Kahane's concerto with Anthony McGill in New York in 2026
- Intermusica - Ryan Bancroft's current conducting positions and his programme with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2026 Proms