Proms to celebrate music of David Bowie

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
published

This year’s BBC Proms will feature music from late rock icon David Bowie

David Bowie
David Bowie (Image credit: Getty)

This year’s BBC Proms in London will feature the music of David Bowie, it’s been announced.

The rock icon died aged 69 in January following an 18-month battle with cancer – just days after releasing his Blackstar album.

His work will be celebrated at The Bowie Prom on July 29 at the city’s Royal Albert Hall, with guests including artists Amanda Palmer and Anna Calvi taking part.

Proms’ director David Pickard says the annual event, which celebrates classical music, has decided to pay tribute to Bowie as his material had an impact on artists from all genres.

Pickard tells the BBC: “Bowie is one of those people who had a tremendous influence on musicians of all kinds. I wanted to celebrate that and show just how versatile and extraordinary a song-maker he was.”

All concerts from the summer shows will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3, with 26 filmed for broadcast on TV or via the BBC’s iPlayer at a later date.

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.