First Night of the Proms 2018. Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, National Youth Choir and Proms Youth Ensemble in Holst, Vaughan Williams and Meredith.

Live at BBC Proms: BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, National Youth Choir and Proms Youth Ensemble conducted by Sakari Oramo in music by Holst, Vaughan Williams and Anna Meredith.

From the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Georgia Mann and Petroc Trelawny

Oliver Knussen: Flourish with Fireworks, Op 22

Vaughan Williams: Toward the Unknown Region

Holst: The Planets

c. 9.20 pm

Live Interval: On the opening night of the 2018 BBC Proms, Georgia Mann and Petroc Trelawny look forward to two months of world-class music-making in the company of guests, and go backstage to chat to some of the performers in tonight's Prom.

c.9.50 pm

Anna Meredith: Five Telegrams

BBC co-commission with 14-18 NOW and Edinburgh International Festival

National Youth Choir of Great Britain

BBC Proms Youth Ensemble

BBC Symphony Chorus

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sakari Oramo (conductor)

An all-British season launch, featuring two major figures who composed responses to the First World War. Holst's much-loved The Planets (premiered in 1918) and Vaughan Williams's choral masterpiece Toward the Unknown Region contrast with a new work by Anna Meredith, featuring the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the BBC Proms Youth Ensemble. Five Telegrams draws on communications sent by young soldiers in 1918, taken from a British Field Service Postcard.