BBC Radio's Sam Jackson addresses The Proms 2026: "We must not allow our current geopolitical climate to stifle culture"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Preparing for the world’s biggest classical music festival is a complex but hugely enjoyable jigsaw puzzle. Every year, we look to marry the best of British with the finest international talent, and to explore how the BBC Proms can tell stories about music and culture – both contemporary and historical. It also takes time.

Two years ago, we decided to reflect the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence at this year’s BBC Proms. Of course, that was before the election of Donald Trump and what we didn’t know then was the way in which world events – particularly those relating to the USA – would take an, at times, unprecedented course.

I believe strongly that the potency and power of classical music, and the stories of those who compose it, should be shared with a broad audience. What’s more, we must not allow our current geopolitical climate to stifle culture, or to dissuade us from championing music of both the past and the present. Great art can’t be cancelled.

We could so easily have decided to retreat from our plans to reflect US culture; indeed, when BBC Radio 3 undertook an American Roadtrip in January, broadcasting from cities such as Boston, Los Angeles and New York, some listeners understandably questioned why we were doing so: this was around the time that President Trump was discussing acquiring Greenland and claiming that the UK takes 92 per cent of North Sea oil revenue – a statement since proven to be factually incorrect.

What was so interesting about those broadcasts was the degree to which our listeners discussed with great fervour and passion the relevance and importance of us marking this anniversary. On balance, the positive voices far outweighed the critical: and so our audience would arguably see it as a failure on our part to row back from showcasing outstanding American music, in this most important of years. It is for this reason that we’ve taken a similar approach with the 2026 Proms.

At the Last Night of the Proms, the Piano Concerto by Samuel Barber will be performed for the first time at the festival. The great Yuja Wang will be at the keyboard for this rarely heard piece, alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo. Earlier in the season, Marin Alsop conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in an evening of Great American Classics that includes Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and music by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and William Grant Still.

During the summer, we’ll hear the UK premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s new cello concerto – a co-commission between the BBC and Lincoln Center in New York; George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, as part of the First Night of the Proms; and the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Concerto for Orchestra. We also welcome two of America’s finest orchestras: the LA Phil, returning for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, and the Proms debut of New York’s Met Orchestra.

Beyond classical music, the centenary of the great Miles Davis is marked in a special Prom featuring the American trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, we showcase the Oscar-winning Alan Menken with a Prom for all the family, and the American soprano Angel Blue joins the Chineke! Orchestra.

This season is about far more than just American music. Space restricts me from extolling the riches of an entire eight weeks of music-making. But at a time when so many countries appear to be retreating into an ever more nationalistic bubble, it’s increasingly important that the Proms maintains its mission to shed light on great music from all corners of the world – and to bring people together, no matter what might be happening around us.

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The BBC Proms runs from Friday 17 July to Saturday 12 September. Book tickets via bbc.co.uk/promstickets or royalalberthall.com.

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