The BBC Proms today announced the programme for this summer’s festival, with 29 Askonas Holt artists and touring partners making appearances.

The Askonas Holt Tours and Projects team this year continues a tradition of bringing world-renowned orchestras to the Royal Albert Hall. Daniel Barenboim returns to the UK for the first time since 2019, conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra which he founded 25 years ago with Palestinian-American academic Edward Said.

Continuing a partnership that spans decades, the team is proud to once again be bringing the Berliner Philharmoniker and Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko to London for two performances at the Royal Albert Hall, including Bruckner’s Symphony No.5 and Schumann’s Piano Concerto with soloist Víkingur Ólafsson. Also celebrating Bruckner’s anniversary year is Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, in their first Prom together since Sir Simon took up his position as Chief Conductor. Alongside the composer’s Symphony No.4, they present the UK premiere of Thomas Adès’s Aquifer followed by a second concert featuring Mahler’s Symphony No.6, both of which are on the programme for their current tour of the US.

Following extensive tours in the US and Europe in collaboration with Askonas Holt, recent signing Jakub Józef Orliński and il Pomo d’Oro present a performance of their critically acclaimed 2023 release Beyond. The Late-Night Prom on 23 July marks the countertenor’s Proms debut, and the Baroque ensemble's first appearance at Royal Albert Hall.

Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic join forces with Benjamin Grosvenor for Busoni’s Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, while Kirill Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 and Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with Evelyn Glennie.

Emmanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma return with frequent collaborator Leonidas Kavakos for a chamber prom of works by Beethoven. Denis Kozhukhin makes his third visit, teaming up with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Ravel’s Piano Concerto, and Tobias Feldmann makes his Proms debut with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic.

Also making his Proms debut is guitarist Plínio Fernandes, who, together with Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, present a family-friendly concert of folk songs, dances, prayers and incantations with the Fantasia Orchestra. They return the next day for a Relaxed Prom.

Cynthia Millar returns with the BBC Philharmonic for Messiaen’s Turangalila, followed the next evening by Lawrence Power who performs the BBC co-commissioned viola concerto I cannot love without trembling by Cassandra Miller. Daniel Pioro heads to the Glasshouse for an afternoon exploration into Elizabethan music and folklore.

Vocal enthusiasts will be treated to Grammy-award winning soprano Angel Blue’s Proms debut when she joins the massed forces of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Singers for the Last Night of the Proms. Other choral favourites include Verdi’s Requiem with Karen Cargill and Soloman Howard, Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s Messiah with Benjamin Hulett and Ashley Riches alongside six choirs and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under John Butt.

For Holst’s 150th-anniversary year, Jess Dandy joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performing his masterpiece The Cloud Messenger. New signing Alice Coote sings Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, which featured on her critically-acclaimed recording of Mahler song cycles with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Baritone James Atkinson performs Fauré’s song-cycle La bonne chanson in a chamber prom that pays homage to fin de siècle Paris at Ulster Hall in Belfast. In another evening celebrating works by French composers, Laurence Kilsby performs Lili Boulanger’s Vieille prière bouddhique with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Finally, opera fans can catch Garsington Opera’s Proms debut with a semi-staged production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring Iestyn Davies as Oberon, Lucy Crowe as Tytania and Christine Rice as Hippolyta alongside the Philharmonia Orchestra.

The Proms run from 19 July to 14 September, with booking opening 18 May. All performances will be live on BBC Radio 3 and streamed on BBC Sounds, with a selection of Proms on TV and iPlayer.