BBC Proms: Florence Welch and Sam Smith to make debut during upcoming season

Award-winning performers Florence Welch and Sam Smith are set to make their BBC Proms debut this year as they join the line-up for the upcoming season.

BBC Singers are celebrating their centenary year with seven performances throughout the 2024 season, with two special performances featuring Welch and Smith. The season will take place from July 19 until September 14, with 90 concerts set to be stages, 73 of which will take place at the famous home of the proms, London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Welch, who is known for her work as part of the indie-rock band Florence + The Machine, will perform the entirety of her 2009 Brit Award-winning album Lungs in her only UK performance this year. The singer, who was recently featured on Taylor Swift’s new album, will take to the stage alongside Grammy-winning producer Jules Buckley and his orchestra on September 11.

Smith will also take to the stage to perform their debut album, 2014’s In The Lonely Hour. They will take to the stage with the BBC Orchestra to celebrate the Grammy-winning record’s 10th anniversary.

BBC Proms director David Pickard said: “This isn’t just another trip after Glastonbury, this is something very special and we’re excited about the idea of opening up a different type of music to the Proms, but actually retaining the sense that this is an orchestral festival. And hopefully it will bring in the sort of audience that might not necessarily come to the Proms but now feel very welcome.”

Controller of Radio 3 and BBC Proms, Sam Jackson, also said that Smith, who has become known for their lavish and dramatic outfits and performances, and their Prom showing will be “entirely appropriate for the festival, adding: “We’ve worked very hard with Sam Smith and their management on how we can create something that is authentically Proms”.

Other events on the BBC Proms 2024 line-up include performances by Grammy award-nominated multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer Jordan Rakei collaborating with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Robert Ames, presenting songs from his new album ‘The Loop’ as well as older hits.

There will also be a range of family events to keep the little ones happy, with a new Doctor Who Prom, and even a CBeebies Prom. Outside of London, Gateshead, Aberdeen, Nottingham, Belfast and Newport will all host events, with live broadcasts of every Prom airing live on BBC Radio 3. There will be 24 Proms, including the first and last night, which will be aired on television and the BBC iPlayer.