In August 2013 fans (encouraged by RadioTimes.com) got very excited about the prospect of a Sherlock Prom. As the final notes of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Prom were still ringing in our ears, we accosted Sherlock composer David Arnold and asked if he’d consider a Sherlock Prom.

Advertisement

"There’s so much music in the show – there’s an hour and ten minutes in every episode of music,” he said. “You’ve got 230 minutes of music per season…”

It was enough to get everyone very excited, and we almost certainly held a poll that said 99% of readers wanted such an event. And now, we are delighted to announce...that's not happening – but there is going to be a Sherlock Holmes prom in the 2015 season at the Royal Albert Hall.

Amongst a raft of exciting events at the annual classical music-fest, a “Prom dedicated to the complex and musical mind of Sherlock Holmes” will feature a variety of music including scores by Paganini, Lassus and Wagner (which Holmes loves in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories). Concert-goers will also hear film and TV scores written for the Baker Street sleuth – including Miklós Rózsa’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and the music from the BBC’s Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

There will also be a a roster of artists performing mentally-challenging solo recitals, including all of Bach’s cello suites in one Late Night Prom by Yo-Yo Ma. Sadly there is no mention of Benedict Cumberbatch in the press material – but we all know he’ll probably be there in spirit. We can reveal that Sherlock co-creator and dastardly Mycroft actor Mark Gatiss will be a special guest at the event.

More like this

Other big ticket items featuring household names include veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough narrating a prom based on his television series Life Story. The BBC Concert Orchestra will perform Murray Gold’s soundtrack to the documentary series, while Eric Whitacre presents a choral and orchestral work, Deep Field, a BBC co-commission inspired by the photos of distant galaxies sent back to earth from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Elsewhere, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane will join the John Wilson Orchestra, to mark the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra as well as performing tributes to Leonard Bernstein’s work.

Fans of the more contemporary can also look forward to another series of late night collaborations from across the BBC radio network including Pete Tong’s celebration of 20 years Ibiza dance music, Jarvis Cocker’s Radio 4 prom based on his Wireless Night series and 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs presenting re-imagined classical music by Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory for the Sullen.

Advertisement

There is of course a huge range of more traditional classical music that doesn’t involve people off the telly or radio of which you can find out a lot more here: bbc.co.uk/proms.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement