Conductor marks 25th prom with St Vincent show

St Vincent performs on stage at Later with Jools Holland, along with a fellow guitarist. They both play electric guitars, and St Vincent's is white with straight edges. There is red lighting. She wears laddered tights , a short skirt and a white blouse with thick jacket over the top, and sings into a microphone. She has long glossy straight dark hair. The man playing guitar has short Brit-pop style hair and wears dark trousers and a jacket.Michael Leckie/BBC

St. Vincent - whose real name is Annie Clark - will make her proms debut on Wednesday

Louise Parry
BBC News, Hertfordshire

A conductor who wants to take "orchestral music beyond its comfort zone" is celebrating his 25th BBC Prom with a St Vincent collaboration.

Jules Buckley, 45, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, has recreated the Grammy-winner's music with the backing of a full orchestra.

"St. Vincent is an artist that I've loved and admired for a long time - Annie's records all have songs that grab you the first time you hear them," said Buckley.

"The Proms has been a platform for me and many others to pull together projects that would otherwise not be possible," he added.

Buckley, who now lives in Berlin, said his experience as a young person at Aylesbury Music Centre "is probably responsible more than anything for what I'm doing now".

"I studied on the trumpet and piano.

"Back in those days they had a system where you could take home an instrument and try it out – it was brilliant , the grassroots system was phenomenal."

Jules stands sideways on, smiling and talking to people on his right, one of whom is wearing black headphones. They appear to be at the Albert Hall with professional lighting shining. Jules wears a white t-shirt and has a thick beard and moustache and short smart brown hair.Jules Buckley

The Jules Buckley Orchestra will perform "new symphonic arrangements" of St Vincent's music

Since his Proms debut, Buckley has staged 24 concerts, including collaborations with Stormzy, Moses Sumney and Florence + the Machine.

He said he'd been tasked with "ripping up the Proms' rulebook".

"When I stepped onto the Proms stage for the first time in 2010, my aim was simple: to open the doors wider.

"I wanted to create concerts that reflected the music I loved, the world I lived in, and the people I knew it could reach," he said.

Florence stands in front of an orchestra wearing a long silky red dress with huge wing-like sleeves, as she sings into a microphone. She has long auburn wavy hair and her left arm reaches out and holds the mic stand. Jules is seen from behind, conducting, and in the orchestra we can see mainly strings players who are dimly lit. Andy Paradise / BBC

Jules oversaw an orchestral revamp of Florence +The Machine's debut album Lungs at the 2024 Proms

St. Vincent's Proms appearance comes months after she won three Grammy awards, including Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Music Album.

The BBC Proms said she is "widely regarded as one of the most innovative and fascinating artists in modern music".

"Annie's an amazing guitarist," said Buckley.

"The concept here is not just to slap an orchestral wallpaper behind an artist.

"We've worked together to find a new interpretation of St. Vincent's sound.

He said the "theatrical" performance would be "pretty dark and shocking at times, and intimate at others".

"I want people to feel shocked, and to leave the gig wanting to see it again, even though we'll never do it."

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