American Public Media™ is pleased to again bring concerts from the BBC Proms to classical music listeners in September.

(St. Paul, Minn.) July 21, 2006—American Public Media^™ is pleased to again bring concerts from the BBC Proms to classical music listeners in September. The BBC Proms will broadcast the week of September 4-8 on public radio stations nationwide. "The Last Night of the Proms" will air live on Saturday, September 9.

The BBC Proms is the world's largest and best known classical music festival, drawing exceptional orchestras and soloists to London for performances in the grand and historic Royal Albert Hall. Each season, only one American orchestra is tapped to make the trip. However, this year four American orchestras have been invited. To recognize this, American Public Media's 2006 Proms series is proudly called "The American Proms."

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Monday, September 4: The Minnesota Orchestra and Music Director Osmo Vänskä (Musical America's Conductor of the Year, 2005) perform a gorgeous set of songs by Osvaldo Golijov, with soprano superstar Dawn Upshaw. Vänskä also conducts Mahler's jubilant Symphony No. 5.

Tuesday, September 5: From New York, the Orchestra of St. Luke's continues this year's 250th birthday bash for Mozart with his final glorious symphony, the "Jupiter."

Wednesday, September 6: Special Note! This concert celebrates the phenomenally successful 'almost-American' conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. As music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1992, the Finnish-born Salonen has found his musical home in the West, and his tenure is the second longest in the Philharmonic's history. He leads England's Philharmonia Orchestra in a sumptuous French and Russian program that also includes the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning Second Concerto for Orchestra by Kansas native, Steven Stucky.

Thursday, September 7: Piano phenom Lang Lang performs Chopin's poetic Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.Friday, September 8: The Philadelphia Orchestra plays a pair of Fifths (Beethoven's and Tchaikovsky's) that begins in shadow and tragedy but ends in a blaze of triumph.

Saturday, September 9: "The Last Night of the Proms": The 2006 BBC Proms ends in this both serious and silly extravaganza that nearly every Briton stops and listens to or watches live on television.

"The Last Night of the Proms" will be broadcast live from Royal Albert Hall. American Public Media host Brian Newhouse will present the concert and provide context for the performances.