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Elgar’s Cello Concerto

BBC Proms 2026

Live at the BBC Proms: Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in his Proms debut with Elgar’s concerto plus Webern and Walton from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Vasily Petrenko.

Live at the BBC Proms: Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández in his Proms debut with Elgar’s concerto plus music by Webern and Walton from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Vasily Petrenko

Presented by Martin Handley, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Anton Webern: Passacaglia
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor

c.8.15pm Interval
Musical polyglot Yshani Perinpanayagam some highlights in the coming week's Proms.

c.8.35pm
William Walton: Symphony No. 2

Pablo Ferrández (cello)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vasily Petrenko (conductor)

Le Figaro called him a ‘new cello genius’. Now prize-winning Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández makes his Proms debut with Elgar’s achingly passionate concerto. He joins Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a programme that measures out the griefs, conflicts and shifting identities of the 20th century – opening with Webern’s lushly Romantic 1908 Passacaglia, whose sequence of intricate variations finds a ghostly echo in the finale of Walton’s Second Symphony. Premiered in 1960, the latter work looks back rather than forwards, rejecting the avant-garde in favour of a dense, Expressionistic intensity.

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2 hours, 29 minutes

Last on

Sunday 19:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Anton Webern

    Passacaglia Op.1

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.

  • Edward Elgar

    Concerto In E Minor Op.85

    Performer: Pablo Ferrández. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.

  • Anton Webern

    Passacaglia Op.1

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.

  • Edward Elgar

    Concerto In E Minor Op.85

    Performer: Pablo Ferrández. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.

  • Pau Casals

    Song of the Birds

    Performer: Pablo Ferrández.

  • William Walton

    Symphony No. 2

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.

  • Elena Kats‐Chernin

    Fantasie im Wintergarten

    Performer: Emily Sun. Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Gemma New.

  • Aaron Copland

    3 Latin American Sketches: No. 1, Estribillo

    Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Copland: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Latin American Sketches.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • Aaron Copland

    3 Latin American Sketches: No. 2, Paisaje Mexicano

    Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Copland: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Latin American Sketches.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.

  • Aaron Copland

    Danza de Jalisco (3 Latin American Sketches)

    Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Copland: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Latin American Sketches.
    • Naxos.
    • 7.

  • Aaron Copland

    Copland: Four Piano Blues - IV. With Bounce

    Performer: Iain Burnside.
    • Voices Vol. 3: The Gift to Be Free.
    • Decca (UMO).

Broadcast

  • Sunday 19:30
    BBC Radio 3