Preview – BBC Proms 2026: Dvořák and Mendelssohn

Programme

Zimmermann Märchen-Suite (Fairy-Tale Suite)
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor
Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor

Alina Ibragimova (violin)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Conductor: Elena Schwarz

Tuesday 4 August 2026 · 7pm–c9.05pm
Royal Albert Hall

Listen on BBC Radio 3 / BBC Sounds

Preview

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is a staple of the repertoire. A reliable crowd pleaser. Entertaining and virtuosic — though not as demanding as the concertos that followed — it’s decorative if a little light. It’s a reliable old thing that doesn’t scare the horses, which is why it, like Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, often features high up in lists of favourite — or indeed overplayed — works.

In the hands of violinist Alina Ibragimova we can expect some fireworks. Be sure to listen to her 2012 recording of the work with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment — the last movement is deliciously brisk. The bar was set high a few years back when Isabelle Faust appeared at the Proms with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in the same work — gritty, edgy, and raw, it gave a piece that had reached near-wallpaper status a new lease of life.

Review

This review will be published following the concert.

Gallery

Photography will be added once available.