Future Proms? Fewer international orchestras but big chorus stuff protected (for now) apparently
Last week’s Feedback on Radio 4 (6 August 2026) – a comparatively toothless affair since Roger Bolton’s departure a few years back – features Radio 3 Controller and Proms Director Sam Jackson, who we learn doesn’t think that the cuts necessary to the Proms in light of the £500m the Corporation needs to save will be noticed by anyone.
In his most recent Feedback open mic, Jackson emphasises that access (preserving £8 Promming tickets) is the priority over international orchestras, though apparently the cheaper stuff like the big chorus works are safe for now. Twenty international bands are visiting this year. More opportunities for UK groups in future years then.
Given the edit in the Feedback episode – less accountability, more corporate positioning – concerts like the Prog Rock Prom are the kind of boundary-pushing ‘classical’ we can expect more of. It shouldn’t be a surprise. It isn’t. Thoroughly Good played a hunch on this a few months back.
Whilst the strategy makes sense — public service broadcasting is a different offer editorially compared to 50 years ago — it’s difficult not to feel like some of us are being forced to bury something tender and fragile.
The evidence Jackson offers for that future commitment is this year’s LSO Berlioz Requiem — already programmed, already committed. So that’s all good then. Right? For the avoidance of any doubt: most large-scale choruses are amateurs. The choir the BBC pays for, still (in part), is the BBC Singers. Framing the choral spectacle as something expensive is as disingenuous as it is convenient.
