Prom 12 – National Youth Orchestra

Part of the BBC Proms.

Explosive energy and enthusiasm are the hallmarks of every performance by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, made up of the UK’s most talented musicians aged from 13 to 18. The ensemble’s annual visit to the Proms is always a festival highlight. This year Mark Wigglesworth conducts NYOGB in a suite from Prokofiev’s passionate ballet Romeo and Juliet and they are joined by violinist Nicola Benedetti for Tchaikovsky’s warmly lyrical Violin Concerto. The concert opens with Lera Auerbach’s bracing symphonic poem Icarus, inspired by the myth of the heroic but ill-fated son of Daedalus who flew too close to the sun.