Jack Burgess
Live editor

BBC executive producer Kaye on the left and series producer Cat on the right are both in place and ready for a dazzling night of classical music.

"You could hear a pin drop in the TV truck when Angel Blue sung that most famous of arias," one of my BBC colleagues tells me, before adding "she completely knocked that out of the park!"

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Giacomo Puccini, one of Italy’s most celebrated composers.

The Last Night of the Proms – aided by soloist Angel Blue - are marking the occasion with three of his most recognisable works, starting with the O mio babbino caro (Oh, my dear papa) from the opera Gianni Schicchi.

An exquisite melody, full of longing, it’s performed in the opera by Lauretta, who begs her father for permission to her marry the love of her life, Rinuccio.

Image source, Getty Images

The trilogy continues with the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly – a piece that signifies the passing of time - before finishing with Vissi d’arte (I lived for art), another aria for an anguished soprano.

Here, the singer is Tosca – whose lover has been falsely imprisoned and tortured.

A police officer suggests she can secure his release by sleeping with him – and Tosca lashes out at God for the lack of justice.

“I lived for my art, I lived for love / I never did harm to a living soul!,” she cries.

“Why, why, oh Lord / Why do you reward me thus?”

Tonight's presenter Katie Derham caught up with Grammy Award-winning soprano Angel Blue earlier ahead of her big performance at the Last Night of the Proms.

She's just taken to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall in a dazzling sequined dress and is performing the first of three opera excerpts by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

You can watch part of their interview in this short clip:

For those watching from home, you'll have just seen a chaplet placed on the big bronze bust of Sir Henry Wood, which is placed in front of the organ for every Proms season.

There is a huge roar of applause from inside the hall - recognising his 50 years with the Proms.

• Read more about Sir Henry Wood in our post from earlier

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

This is the sixth time Sakari Oramo has conducted the Last Night of the Proms, so he's almost a permanent fixture.

He's just said a few words about tonight's programme on BBC Radio 3.

"It's a feast. It's a party," he said, before singing the praises of the evening's soloists.

"Angel Blue is an American soprano [who] has a radiant, warm soprano tone, which also, I think, has nice brightness when she sings a little bit higher.

"And Stephen Hough's playing is just crystalline. It's so clear, it's so well thought through. It's flamboyant without being bombastic at all. He's just pure music," he adds.

Rachel Flynn
reporting from the Royal Albert Hall

I caught up with David Pickard before his final Last Night as Director of the BBC Proms. He’s stepping down this year after his ninth season.

One of the main agendas throughout his tenure was to see a broader range of people both on the stage and in the audience, he tells me.

As well as taking the Proms outside of London and promoting non-classical artists, he’s introduced relaxed concerts - where the audience is free to make involuntary noise.

David’s Proms highlight is the “orchestral theatre” of Aurora Orchestra, who play each year from memory.

And his lowlight - managing the Proms during the Covid-19 pandemic (in 2020, the Proms were broadcast without an audience).

“But I'm very proud that we never lost a season," he says.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The Last Night of the Proms opens with a piece that was written on a number 22 bus: Sir William Walton's Overture 'Portsmouth Point'.

Sir William came up with the opening musical strands of his overture while travelling to house of poet Sacheverell Sitwell, with whom he was lodging in the early 1920s.

But while the music was written in London, it’s inspired by a 19th Century print by Thomas Rowlandson, depicting the lively seaport of Portsmouth in southern England.

It’s a scene full of cavorting couples, drunken debauchery, a peg-legged fiddle player and a man who’s apparently wrestling a dog.

Sir Walton’s composition captures the port’s messy confusion with brief, asymmetric melodies – including a brief snatch of the hornpipe, which we’ll hear in full at the end of tonight’s concert.

Here we go everybody, it's the Last Night of the Proms 2024.

Rachel Flynn
reporting from the Royal Albert Hall

I’m hearing the final tunings from the orchestra, who are all sat and ready to go.

There is palpable excitement here.

Most people seem to be taking in the grandeur of the hall - it really is spectacular.

The Last Night of the Proms is due to start just after 19:00 BST.

Our audiences in the UK can watch the concert live via a streaming link at the top of this page. Just click the Watch live button.

Meanwhile, audiences both domestic and international can listen to every note of the Last Night of The Proms live on BBC Radio 3, or by clicking the relevant link at the top of the page.

And if you want to catch up on previous concerts:

• You can listen to Proms concerts from across the season on BBC Sounds
• Or watch 20 fantastic Proms from Bach to Beethoven to Bollywood on BBC iPlayer

Jack Burgess
Live editor

Image source, BBC/PA Wire

While we’re immersed in the world’s largest classical festival, my colleague Michael Sheils McNamee sat next to me in New Broadcasting House is putting on his dancing shoes and has just fired up a live page for this evening’s launch show of Strictly Come Dancing, which is about to get under way at 19:20 BST.

You can waltz your way over to our Strictly live page for the latest updates about the show, which celebrates 20 years in the ballroom this series.

But make sure you foxtrot back here to catch tonight’s classical music extravaganza at the Proms.

Rachel Flynn
reporting from the Royal Albert Hall

The final few Prommers are making their way into the Royal Albert Hall.

In about 10 minutes' time, the finale to the biggest classical music festival in the world will begin.

And I’ll be reporting throughout, keeping you up-to-date with the musical menu it has in store.

Happy Last Night of the Proms!

Jack Burgess
Live editor

I've been absolutely glued to my TV screen watching the Proms this year.

From Beethoven's famous fifth symphony on the opening night, Holst's the Planets and the 100th anniversary of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, to the disco night, Sam Smith and Florence + The Machine - this year's had something for everyone.

Here are few of the most unmissable moments:

You can watch more clips of highlights on the BBC Proms website.

The night kicks off shortly just after 19:00 BST with pieces by Walton, Puccini, Fauré, Saint-Saëns and others.

The second half starts with world premieres of compositions by Iain Farrington and Stephen Hough.

Later, a number of British sea-songs will be sung, according to tradition - as will Rule, Britannia!, Pomp and Circumstance, Jerusalem, the National Anthem and Auld Lang Syne.

You can see the full programme here.

While we wait for Last Night to kick off, let's look back to some memorable ones, with help from the BBC Music magazine archive. , external

1947: BBC cameras arrive at the Royal Albert Hall for its first time televised. Orchestra members apparently struggled under the heat of the TV lights.

1985: Last Night mezzo soloist Sarah Walker unbuttons the sleeve of her dress to reveal a Union Flag - from this Proms on, a tradition of wearing union jacks is set.

2001: Just four days after the 9/11 attacks, the Last Night decides against playing the traditional patriotic pieces of Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia!

2013: Marin Alsop becomes the first woman to conduct the Last Night.

There have been tricky moments for the Proms in the last few years - in 2020 the Last Night was performed to an empty hall, and the 2022 concert was cancelled 48 hours before following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. It was the first Last Night cancellation since 1944.

Rachel Flynn
reporting from the Royal Albert Hall

Towards the back of the queue - though still with immensely high spirits - are Phillip Dunn and Gary High.

What they love about the Proms, they tell me, is the difference each year.

Gary has done 42 Last Nights and Phillip has done 23.

“Everyone says to me, you go every year so it must be the same.

But it’s different every year - that’s why we keep coming!”

Tonight, they’re most excited to hear soprano Angel Blue.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

Californian soprano Angel Joy Blue really lives up to her middle name, performing on stages around the world with an unbridled sense of fun.

She started singing at four years old after her parents took her to see a production of Turandot, and paid her way through UCLA music school by competing in beauty pageants – winning the titles of Miss Apple Valley, Miss Hollywood and Miss Southern California.

Hugely in-demand, she’s compared her lifestyle to the Looney Toons cartoon character of the Tasmanian Devil, “constantly going, constantly moving, constantly having to perform”.

That involves performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera House, Carnegie Hall, Vienna State Opera and Hamburg State Opera.

Most notably, she was the first black woman to sing Violetta in La Traviata at La Scala in Milan.

Image source, Getty Images

She won a Grammy for her recording of Gershwin’s Porgy And Bess in 2020; and hit headlines in 2022 after pulling out of a performance at Italy’s Arena di Verona in protest at the venue’s use of blackface make-up in a production of Verdi’s Aida.

Known for her dusky middle register and soaring, agile upper range, her vocals have been called “radiant,” “alluring,” “honeyed,” and like “plush velvet”.

But she has another hidden talent… Making wigs, a skill she picked up by watching YouTube videos after becoming “tired of spending money” on her own hairpieces.

Tonight, she’ll the sing famous Puccini aria O Mio Babbino Caro, Ruperto Chapí’s rapid-fire Carceleras.

She'll also lead the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra in Last Night stalwarts such as Jerusalem, the National Anthem, and Auld Lang Syne.

The doors to the Royal Albert Hall have just opened and here's a quick peek inside.

As we talked about earlier, a bronze bust of legendary Proms conductor Sir Henry Wood sits in front of the organ throughout the Proms.

Above the Prommers hang acoustic mushrooms - or fibreglass acoustic diffusers - which were installed in the 1960s to solve an echoing issue in the hall.

At first 135 mushrooms were installed but, in 2001, 50 mushrooms were removed and 85 reconfigured to further improve the acoustics.

The maximum capacity at the Royal Albert Hall is 5,900, including those standing.

There are 1268 seats privately owned, according to the RAH.

Rachel Flynn
reporting from the Royal Albert Hall

Meanwhile, the queue of Prommers twists all the way around the hall.

Noor Nanji & Steven McIntosh
Culture reporters

Image source, Getty Images

Musician Sheku Kanneh-Mason has said Rule, Britannia! "makes people feel uncomfortable" and should not be sung at the Last Night of the Proms.

The song sparked debate in 2020 when the BBC reversed its decision to drop its lyrics from the Proms.

Rule, Britannia! is controversial due to its associations with colonialism and slavery.

The BBC said the Proms were built on "long-standing traditions" which were "loved by people around the world".

Kanneh-Mason was a soloist at the Last Night of the Proms last year. But he said he did not stay to hear Rule, Britannia! being sung at the end of the night.

Image source, PA Media

There was fierce criticism after it emerged that Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory were not going to be sung at The Last Night of the Proms in 2020.

At the time, the BBC said the decision to perform orchestral-only versions was prompted by Covid-19 restrictions.

But reports suggested that the lyrics were being dropped due to associations with colonialism and slavery.

The corporation later backtracked and said a "select" group of singers would perform the songs after all.

The piece has been included as part of the conclusion to tonight's Prom.