BBC Proms director shares ‘big and bold’ vision

BBC Proms director Sam Jackson has opened up on the 2025 season’s “adventurous” lineup and his grand vision for the classical music festival in an interview with IQ.

This year’s series, which runs from 18 July to 13 September, will feature 86 Proms in total – 72 at the Royal Albert Hall in London and 14 at venues across the UK – making it the world’s biggest classical music festival.

As well as the traditional First and Last Nights of the Prom, highlights are set to include major soloists such as pianists Yunchan Lim and Sir András Schiff, violinists Hilary Hahn and Janine Jansen, and soprano Golda Schultz, plus the first overnight Prom since 1983.

In addition, non-classical artists St Vincent and Samara Joy will present their music in new orchestral settings, Grammy Award-winning artist Arooj Aftab will showcase her eclectic influences from jazz, folk, pop, blues and South Asian classical while, in a spin-off from the hit TV show, presenter Claudia Winkleman will host The Traitors Prom and explore themes of treachery and betrayal in classical music.

Every Prom will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. BBC Television and BBC iPlayer will screen 25 programmes, with nine Proms across BBC One and BBC Two.

Detailing the methodology behind the programming, Jackson, who took over as head of both the Proms and BBC Radio 3 two years ago, says it always starts from the audience’s point of view.

“That’s not just the audience in the venue; it’s the audience on Radio 3, TV and BBC iPlayer and Sounds as well,” he explains. “The big difference with the Proms compared to any other classical music festival is that, at its heart, it’s a broadcast festival. If you look at the Last Night of the Proms last year, about 3.5 million people watched that live [on TV], and so we have to start by saying, ‘What does that audience want? What does the BBC have in its armoury that nobody else has? How do we make sure this is a really fantastic experience?'”

“We reach out to other artists and other genres when it makes sense to do so”

For Jackson and the team, an eternal challenge is ensuring the schedule offers an entry point to newcomers, while servicing the festival’s core audience.

“How do we offer a route into the Proms for people who’ve never been before, whilst also giving people for whom this is the highlight of their year – and have been coming, in some cases, for many decades – something that is new and adventurous and different?” he ponders. “Often, that is done through repertoire that is performed for the very first time, but also the Proms needs to have the absolute gold standard, established, revered classical stars coming as well.

“You’re spinning lots of very different plates, but at its heart, it’s about saying, ‘What does the audience want, and how do we use our licence fee funding and box office revenue to do things that others can’t?'”

After the 2024 bill featured the Proms debuts of Florence + The Machine and Sam Smith, this year includes the Great American Songbook and Beyond with 5x Grammy winner Samara Joy (19 July) and St Vincent performing with Jules Buckley and his orchestra (3 September).

“The Proms has always had the confidence to say it’s a classical music festival, but we reach out to other artists and other genres when it makes sense to do so,” says Jackson. “Henry Wood was doing that when he founded the Proms and it has operated under that tradition over many years.

“Sometimes those people come to us, sometimes we go to them. But the exciting thing is that because we’ve had a few contemporary pop or rock artists, or artists from other genres, doing a Prom and being very well received critically, we’re finding more people are now coming to us.”

“A lot of people instinctively feel classical music isn’t for them, and I love it when we prove them wrong”

Jackson outlines the role of such acts in the event’s overall offering.

“They offer a route into the Proms for people who might not come otherwise,” he says. “They also offer the existing Proms audience the chance to experience something different – it can be a common misconception that the only people who come are the fans of that artist.

“It’s an opportunity for artists to explore their music in a different setting and work with an orchestra, and an opportunity for us to make quite a statement about what the Proms is in the 21st century, which in many ways is following the same traditions as when the festival got going more than 100 years ago.”

Continuing its commitment to accessible ticket prices, seats are available from £10, with half-price tickets for under-18s and Promming day standing tickets at £8. Tickets go on general sale next Saturday, 17 May.

“I’m really interested in attracting younger audiences,” says Jackson. “I’m also interested in those people who’ve never been to the Proms, who might be former rockers in their 60s or 70s. A lot of people instinctively feel classical music isn’t for them, and I love it when we prove them wrong and show that the Proms is a festival for everybody. If you look at last year, on average, the Royal Albert Hall was filled to 96% capacity every night.

“The core classical music fan is typically somebody a little bit older. But what I love about the Proms is, as you look around, you do really see a mix of people.”

“I very much hope that the glory days of the Proms are ahead of us”

Concerts for children include a new CBeebies Prom: A Magical Bedtime Story as well as the CBeebies Prom: Wildlife Jamboree in Gateshead.

“You can’t fail to smile when you see the very youngest concertgoers experiencing the Proms for the first time,” adds Jackson.

Looking forward, Jackson is already casting thoughts towards a special milestone for the series in two years’ time.

“We’ve got a big opportunity in 2027, which is the centenary of the BBC Proms,” he says. “The BBC will have been the custodians of the festival for a century at that point and we’ve got big, bold creative plans. Having an even greater ambition about the number of people we can reach – and doing so through our broadcast channels, as much as in the halls themselves – is very much part of where I want to take things.

“I very much hope that the glory days of the Proms are ahead of us – that we can be even bigger and bolder in our programming and we can build on the foundations laid not only by Henry Wood, but by everyone who followed him.”

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