Prom 9 – The Two Scheherazades

Part of the BBC Proms.

The legend of Scheherazade and her bewitching stories from One Thousand and One Nights are vividly captured in both Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral suite – a dazzling musical portrait of the East, full of shipwrecks, love scenes and crowded bazaars – and Ravel’s sensually beautiful overture, written for a never-completed opera. We’re in more familiar landscapes in Sally Beamish’s Hive, which traces the life of a beehive across four seasons, starting with the gentle stir and shimmer of winter and climaxing in the swarms, dances and battles of summer. Award-winning Welsh harpist Catrin Finch is the soloist in this world-premiere.