Hello from Germany

[friedemann]

Hello everyone,

I discovered this forum while looking for informations on the BBC Proms.
My siblings and I are planning to suprise my parents with a trip to London and tickets to a couple prom concerts.
The occasion is our father's 60th birthday in may next year. Earlier this year I collected some information on this years proms to prepare myself for the "ticket run" in 2023.
Unfortunately I couldn't find the exact date (beginning and ending) of this years prom months in advance.
This info is key to booking an acomodation in advance and "blocking" my father's calender for a week.
It seems that this forum is a good source of information and I'm looking forward to browse it regularly.

Greetings from Weimar, Germany
Friedemann

[french frank]

Hello Friedemann - and welcome.

First Night Friday 15 July
Last Night Saturday 10 September.

If you check the left hand sidebar of our homepage you can find links to all the concerts.

You should see the sidebar by default, otherwise you may need to click to open it. Scroll down the sidebar and at the bottom are all the links to Proms 2022. Ask here if you have any questions!

[friedemann]

Thanks. My problem is, I'm looking for information on the proms next year

[RichardB]

Thanks. My problem is, I'm looking for information on the proms next year

Herzlich willkommen! The programme as far as I know isn't released until the spring, but the starting and ending dates don't vary much from one year to the next.

[french frank]

Thanks. My problem is, I'm looking for information on the proms next year

SORRY! I did not read it properly. I'm not sure that the dates will be fixed yet. Anyone?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Herzlich willkommen! The programme as far as I know isn't released until the spring, but the starting and ending dates don't vary much from one year to the next.

Indeed. Next year the dates are more than likely to be 14th July - 9th September.

[Andrew Slater]

SORRY! I did not read it properly. I'm not sure that the dates will be fixed yet. Anyone?

I don't think the dates have been announced yet, but I think it's almost certain that they will be 14/07/23 or 21/07/23 to 09/09/23 or 16/09/23. For 'blocking' a calendar in advance I would allow 14/07 to 16/09. The next season dates are usually announced by the end of the current season, so this year we'll know for certain by the 10th September.

[bluestateprommer]

Hello Friedemann:

Greetings from the USA and welcome to the Radio 3 Forum . For the 2023 Proms season, I am in agreement with EnemyoftheStoat and Andrew Slater that in all likelihood, the dates of the 2023 Proms will be from 14 July 2023 - 9 September 2023. (Of course, this assumes no new COVID or other health concerns that might cause a fresh lockdown, and if there are no issues with travel because of geopolitical instability, but I digress.)

Now, going all nerd now: there actually is a general logic to figuring out the dates of any given Proms season, again assuming a full season that goes 58 calendar days, from the First Night to the Last Night, without any external disruptions. The key to the puzzle is this:

As a general rule, The Last Night of The Proms is pretty much set to happen on the Saturday of the first full week in September.

To unpack that sentence, here are bookend examples of the two extreme possibilities as illustration:

(a) If the first full week of September is Sunday 1 September to Saturday 7 September:
* Then Saturday 7 September is the date of the Last Night.
* Working 58 days backwards from there, then the First Night will be 12 July. (This is what is to happen in 2024.)

(b) If the first full week of September is Sunday 6 September to Saturday 13 September:
* Then that makes Saturday 13 September the date of the Last Night.
* Doing the same thing and working backwards 58 calendar days, the First Night then is 18 July. (This is what is to happen in 2025.)

When you and your family are in London next summer, I would also recommend to you a visit to Wigmore Hall, perhaps for one or more of the lunchtime concerts there, at the very least. Of course, there's tons to do in London, so you will have too many options to choose from, in a good way.