April | 2025 | Sibelius One

The BBC Proms programmes for 2025 have been announced. The music of Sibelius is featured at five concerts, four of which are at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Details and links to the BBC’s website for more information are below. General booking for BBC Proms 2025 opens on 17 May.

Friday 18 July 2025 – Royal Albert Hall, London – First Night of the Proms 2025

Bliss: Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood
Mendelssohn: Overture ‘The Hebrides’ (Fingal’s Cave)
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor
Errollyn Wallen: The Elements – BBC commission: world premiere
Vaughan Williams: Sancta civitas

Lisa Batiashvili violin; Caspar Singh tenor; Gerald Finley bass baritone
BBC Singers; BBC Symphony Chorus; Members of London Youth Choirs
BBC Symphony Orchestra – Sakari Oramo conductor

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2025/first-night-of-the-proms-2025

Sunday 10 August 2025 – Royal Albert Hall, London – Edward Gardner Conducts the LPO

Sibelius: The Oceanides
Tippett: The Rose Lake
Ravel: Shéhérazade
Debussy: La mer

Aigul Akhmetshina mezzo-soprano
London Philharmonic Orchestra – Edward Gardner conductor

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2025/edward-gardner-conducts-the-lpo

Saturday 23 August 2025 – Bristol Beacon – Arvo Pärt, Sibelius, Gavin Higgins and Mozart

Sibelius: Rakastava
Arvo Pärt: Tabula rasa
Gavin Higgins: Rough Voices
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E flat major

Zoë Beyers violin/director / Miranda Dale violin
Britten Sinfonia – Tess Jackson conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezzv9r

Tuesday 26 August 2025 – Royal Albert Hall, London – Sibelius’s Second

Arvo Pärt: Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major

Hilary Hahn violin
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra – Andris Nelsons conductor

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2025/sibeliuss-second

Tuesday 2 September 2025 – Royal Albert Hall, London – Adès Conducts the BBC SO

Sibelius The Swan of Tuonela
Gabriella Smith: Breathing Forests – UK premiere
Thomas Adès: Five Spells from The Tempest
Sibelius: The Tempest – Suite No. 1

James McVinnie organ
BBC Symphony Orchestra – Thomas Adès conductor

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2025/ades-conducts-the-bbc-so

Sibelius is one of the featured composers in a new range of musical-themed chocolate available internationally from today, 1 April 2025, and designed to attract a whole new generation of consumers to classical music.

Building on the concept established by Austria’s famous Mozart-Kugel from 1890, Chocol-o-tunes takes the notion of musical confectionery to a new level for for the 21st century. Embedded in the chocolate bars are microchips attached to miniature loudspeakers (about the size of a hazlenut in traditional chocolate bars). When the chocolate is eaten and these microchips come into contact with gastric acid, a piece of music is played, apparently emerging direct from the body of the consumer. A company representative has praised the sound quality thus obtained, describing it as ‘tummy-wobbling’.

Musical works featured in the initial release of Chocol-o-tunes include:
— Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 (slow movement)
— Mozart: Ein musikalischer Spaß, K 522
— Haydn: String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 33 No. 2, ‘The Joke’
— John Cage: 4’33”

Chocol-o-tunes is available from participating retail outlets and costs € 15.00 for a 100g bar.