The BBC Proms is an 8 week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London.
The Proms were founded in 1895, and are now organised and broadcast by the BBC.
Each season consists of concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, chamber music concerts at Cadogan Hall, additional Proms in the Park events across the UK on the Last Night of the Proms, and associated educational and children's events. The season is a significant event in British culture.
In classical music, Jiří Bělohlávek described the Proms as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival".
The 2018 season ran from 13 July to 8 September. It featured a number of composer anniversaries:
* Leonard Bernstein: 100th anniversary of his birth
* Hubert Parry: 100th anniversary of his death
* Lili Boulanger: 100th anniversary of her death
* Claude Debussy: 100th anniversary of his death
Women composers were also celebrated on the 100th anniversary of the extension of voting rights to some women in the UK. The 22 composers featured included Clara Schumann, Ethel Smyth, Amy Beach, Alma Mahler, Florence Price and Thea Musgrave.
Prom 3, on 15 July, marked the fortieth anniversary of the BBC Young Musician competition and featured performances from a number of the competition's previous and current winners and finalists.
Prom is short for promenade concert, a term which originally referred to outdoor concerts in London's pleasure gardens, where the audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing. In the context of the BBC Proms, promming refers to the use of the standing areas inside the hall (the Arena and Gallery) for which ticket prices are much lower than for the seating.
Proms concert-goers, particularly those who stand, are sometimes referred to as "Prommers" or "Promenaders".
