Rainer Hersch's Proms in the Pub

And so my friends we reach the end of our series. In this Last Night of the Proms in the Pub, I look back over the best bits of the podcast as Harry the Piano and I say cheerio until next year.... Thanks for listening Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tommy Pearson popped over to chat about his time at Radio 3 as their youngest presenter by some decades and his experience of presenting The Proms. We also spoke about how he got to write for Richard Attenborough and meeting TV legend Des Lynman. Harry the Piano treats us to a Franz Liszt version of Darth Vader's Imperial March. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we're very excited to be joined by actor and satirist Tom Walker, better known as his foul mouthed political TV anchor creation, Jonathan Pie. Tom is a Proms virgin or so he claimed, so together with Harry The Piano, we took him along to experience the fun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was delighted to invite Harry the Piano into my humble home and talk to him about his genius ability to take audience suggestions of a song to be played in the style of composer and hey-presto Scooby-Doo a la Mozart, or a Beethoven take on the News at Ten theme. We talked about this crossover between classical music and comedy and the few select group of performers who have mastered this art centring on the great Victor Borge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conductor Barry Wordsworth is a true hero of the Proms - veteran of 30 appearances, including the 1993 Last Night, he has has done it all: jubilee concerts, programmes of Royal celebration, concertos, first performances. Hear his fascinating reminiscences of studying with Adrian Boult; how Malcolm Arnold nearly destroyed a priceless guitar live on the Albert Hall stage and more. Harry the Piano is on cue with his own razzmatazz take on Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What would The Proms be without the Prommers? I speak to some of the hardcore fans, many of whom have been attending for decades, about the quirks, the trials and the friendships made in queuing for the daily cheap standing tickets. And Harry the Piano rounds things off with his Beethoven-Cole Porter mash up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Baritone Benjamin Appl is a former member of the BBC New Generation Artist scheme and a much sought after song recitalist. But excitingly for me we both share an Anglo-German heritage and lo-ove of music. I met up with him a couple of days before a rather unusual slot in a Symphony by the Danish Composer Carl Nielson. And we finish as always with Harry the Piano who gives us his Carmina Burana - Schubert mash up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oliver has been selling tickets, cheap, outside the Albert Hall for over 40 years. Now he is 79 and the business is not what it used to be: the audience books online and nobody has cash anymore. Listen to the poignant story of one of the Proms' quiet background characters as he draws towards the end of an era. The episode ends with Harry the Piano playing his own special concert paraphrase on 'La donna è mobile' - and that's the kind 'mobile' that comes with a ringtone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I pop backstage to chat with British oboist and conductor Nicholas Daniel, a former winner, several moons and many suns ago, of the BBC Young Musician of the Year. We talked about him playing at the Proms, Vaughan Williams's messy manuscripts and how he was pulled over by police whilst listening to music. And once again Harry the Piano wraps things off, this time with his JS Bach take on Molly Malone. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norman Lebrecht is one of the most celebrated writers on Classical Music. He is unashamedly pugnacious in his opinions about the industry, predicting recently that the 2022 Proms would be the last as we know them. So what comes next? Could the the BBC and Proms ever part company? Find out in this fascinating interview. Plus Rainer on buying tickets at the Albert Hall and Beethoven 5 by Harry the Piano. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.