Last week I was thrilled to return to the Royal Albert Hall to attend the world's greatest classical music festival, as the annual six weeks of live concerts are back. The Proms didn't go ahead IRL last summer due to Covid, so it felt great to be back in this beautiful venue after two years, experiencing live music once again. 2020 aside, I've attended the Proms every year since I moved to London, including Last Night of the Proms in 2015, Proms in the Park in 2016, Late Night Proms in 2017, Last Night of the Proms again in 2018, along with many fabulous performances of my favourite pieces over the years.
This year, I'm keeping indoor activities to a minimum as I'm pregnant, so I chose just one concert: Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields to perform Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Vivaldi's best-known work was interspersed with Astor Piazzolla's The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, as we were taken on a musical journey through four seasons across two continents. Argentine composer Piazzolla - whose 100th anniversary is celebrated this year - created his own response to Vivaldi's virtuosic concertos, with a heady tango rhythm woven throughout. You can catch every single Prom on BBC3 Radio with selected performances filmed for TV too - watch the Four Seasons concert here and see what else is available on iPlayer here.
The 2021 Proms season runs until 11 September
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