Travel Pick: Classical Music in England
London's BBC Promenade Concerts

London's Promenade Concerts, a very British institution known as "The Proms", offer a superb array of music in all genres and all schools, from pre-Baroque to utmost contemporary. Concerts are at London's Royal Albert Hall, except the Chamber Concerts which are given at Cadogan Hall. Visiting orchestras include Berliner Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra,  City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, New York Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris.

Among the many concerts on this year's Proms programme are: Messiaen's Saint Francis of Assisi (concert performance; sung in French), Mahler's Symphony No.6 in A minor, Verdi's Requiem, J S Bach's St. John Passion (sung in German), Music of the French baroque performed by Les Talens Lyriques, Duke Ellington's Harlem, Janáček's Osud (concert performance, sung in Czech), Stockhausen Day, Handel's Belshazza, French Renaissance maradrigals, Monteverdi 's The Coronation of Poppaea (semi-staged; sung in Italian.