The BBC Proms has tonight announced that, having been forced to shelve initial plans for its Royal Albert Hall-based summer season due to Covid-19, it will instead offer daily broadcasts drawing on the Proms' rich archives. The eight weeks of daily evening programmes will begin on BBC Radio 3 on Friday July 17, as the live broadcasts would have done, accompanied by an archive broadcast of a weekly Late Night Prom and a Monday lunchtime concert.

However, the Proms still holds ambitions to ‘have musicians performing live at the Royal Albert Hall across the final two weeks of the season’, which would be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, BBC Four and iPlayer, leading up to what they are describing as ‘a poignant and unique Last Night of the Proms’ on September 12. The details of these events will be announced nearer the time, and be based on the rules surrounding social distancing and public events in place in late August and early September - though it’s hoped to include both ensembles as well as solo performances. Radio 3 is already taking tentative steps towards broadcasting live performances – albeit without an audience present – in conjunction with the Wigmore Hall, beginning a daily recital series on June 1.

There are also plans for some live digital events, beginning with a First Night commission to be performed by all the BBC Orchestras and BBC Singers, featuring more than 350 musicians as part of a ‘Grand Virtual Orchestra’ performing what’s being described as ‘a new mash-up of Beethoven's 9 symphonies’, created by Iain Farrington.

David Pickard, Director BBC Proms, said: ‘These are challenging times for our nation and the rest of the world, but they show that we need music and the creative industries more than ever. This year it is not going to be the Proms as we know them, but the Proms as we need them. We will provide a stimulating and enriching musical summer for both loyal Proms audiences and people discovering the riches we have to offer for the first time.’

Alan Davey, BBC Radio 3 and Classical Music Controller, said: ‘The BBC Proms every year heralds a summer of classical music and this year we will deliver the same joy, inspiration and transformation to peoples' lives that such music brings, albeit in a different way. We’ll be celebrating 125 years of the biggest classical music festival in the world by connecting audiences through a multimedia offering of incredible recorded gems in our Proms Archive, together with audience suggestions of their all-time favourite Prom for our airwaves and a return to the unique magic that real, live music brings in the last two weeks of the festival.’