Classical News: First day of BBC Proms booking breaks records

Booking for the 2012 Proms opened on May 12th, and 97,000 tickets were sold in just one day – with a whopping 80,000 of those being sold online – yes, that’s 82.5% of the total. The other 17,000 sales were divided between those who called at the RAH in person, those who used telephone booking, and those who applied by post.

The most popular concerts included Prom 12 (Boulez conducting Beethoven on July 23) Prom 18 (Beethoven’s 9th conducted by Daniel Barenboim, on July 18) and Prom 63 (Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic). However, if you don’t manage to get tickets in advance for your top choices, there are, as the Proms Director Roger Wright reminds us, up to 1400 promming tickets released on the day of each concert, each priced at £5 for the seventh consecutive year. Every Prom can be heard on Radio 3, with many televised, and you can also get lucky with returns.

Within the space of a few weeks, any opera lover can go along to the RAH and hear Le Nozze di Figaro, Pellas et Mlisande, Les Troyens, Peter Grimes, Judas Maccabeus and Nixon in China all for £30 – not just a bargain, but a range of repertoire from the 18th to the 20th century which would do any opera house proud. musicOMH writers are looking forward to covering these and many other Proms – watch this site for next-day reviews.