Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.After eight weeks and more than 90 concerts, the 2024 BBC Proms season reached its conclusion on Saturday. However much some people may fight against it, the Last Night of the Proms never seems to change. There were just as many balloons this year, though not quite as many large flags, only three Ukrainian and none at all from either side of the war in Gaza (were their flags banned?).It has been a fine season in almost every way. The BBC Proms is building on its admirable initiative to take concerts to the regions of the UK. As for the Royal Albert Hall, final figures are expected to show two-thirds of the concerts there were sold out — don’t forget that this venue holds almost 6,000, twice most concert halls.Those who were successful in the ballot for the Last Night, entrusted again to the safe hands of conductor Sakari Oramo, were served a disjointed programme of short snippets, often separated by long gaps. There was a typically exuberant new work from Carlos Simon, Hellfighters’ Blues, which invited the BBC Symphony Orchestra, brass especially, to show off its virtuosity. Iain Farrington’s Extra Time, getting its premiere, hit the spot by putting together a medley of theme tunes from TV sports programmes.The only salient feature that distinguishes one Last Night from another is the guests. This year, American soprano Angel Blue sang with such beauty in two Puccini arias that one really wanted more of them. Her Zarzuela number from Chapí’s Carceleras showed off a delightful personality as she threw flowers to the Promenaders and she also sang movingly in a pair of spirituals.These were arranged by the evening’s other soloist, pianist Stephen Hough, though the scale felt rather too intimate for the occasion. Hough made amends with the atmospheric slow movement from Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No 5, “Egyptian” (though why could we not have the rest of the concerto?). Even better was his encore, his own scintillating Mary Poppins arrangement — truly supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.It is ironic that the Last Night of the Proms should attract a primarily middle-aged audience, when the other concerts are often filled with younger faces of the kind other concert halls would love to see. Where do they all go in the winter months? ★★★☆☆As the BBC Proms finishes, so the Wigmore Hall season gets under way. A hero’s welcome greeted countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński for the opening concert even before he had opened his mouth. In a varied programme of Baroque arias from Cavalli to Bononcini he lived up to the celebrity status by chatting to the audience, acting out some of the parts and — most important — singing with an exceptional purity of sound that puts him at the top of his game. A single note, gently swelling in volume and falling back, was haunting every time. He was accompanied by Il Pomo d’Oro, whose instrumental interludes, highly ornamented, were a major bonus, not just padding. A very good start to the season. ★★★★★wigmore-hall.org.uk
