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International orchestras

More than 20 international orchestras and ensembles come to the Proms in 2010 from the USA, Australia and all corners of Europe.

They include the Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle (3 and 4 September), the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner (29 August), the Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vänska (27 & 28 August), the Sydney Symphony under Vladimir Ashkenazy (24 August), and the Rotterdam Philharmonic with its new young Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (21 August).

The Orchestre National de France and Daniele Gatti give their first Prom together (7 September), while the World Orchestra for Peace (comprising hand-picked players from more than 70 international orchestras) under Valery Gergiev (5 August) and the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev (18 August) make welcome returns.

Great British orchestras...

Many of the UK's leading orchestras appear at the Proms with their principal conductors.

In 2010 the ±«Óãtv Proms presents the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko (19 July), the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons (29 July), the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Sir Simon Rattle (1 August), the Hallé with Sir Mark Elder (6 August), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Andrew Litton (14 August), the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski (15 August), the London Symphony Orchestra with Valery Gergiev (16 August), the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen (20 August), the Ulster Orchestra with Paul Watkins (5 September) and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Stéphane Denève (6 September).

Leading British chamber orchestras and ensembles also have a crucial role in the festival and include the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (29 July), London Sinfonietta (4 August), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (6 August), Endymion (17 August), Britten Sinfonia (21 August), Nash Ensemble (28 August) and Aurora Orchestra (30 August).

...Including the ±«Óãtv performing groups

The ±«Óãtv's own performing groups – involved in around 30 concerts this year – are vital to the Proms, and planning so much new and unusual music at the Proms would be impossible without them.

The ±«Óãtv Symphony Orchestra gives 11 concerts, including the First and Last Nights, and performs five of the major premieres this season.

The ±«Óãtv Scottish Symphony Orchestra is 75 in 2010 and recreates its first-ever Prom from 1962 (19 August). It also gives its first Proms with Donald Runnicles in his new role as Chief Conductor (3 and 4 August).

The ±«Óãtv National Orchestra of Wales gives five concerts this season and makes a strong showing on ±«Óãtv TV with its Doctor Who concerts (24 and 25 July) on ±«Óãtv Three, its wartime music Prom with Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer (22 July), and its French-themed concert with Associate Guest conductor François-Xavier Roth (2 September) on ±«Óãtv Four.

The ±«Óãtv Concert Orchestra's recreation of the 1910 Last Night of the Proms (5 September) and Sondheim 80th-birthday concert (31 July) also promise to be highlights this year, as do the ±«Óãtv Philharmonic's Viennese Night (25 July) and its world premiere of Robin Holloway's new Schumann-inspired commission under Gianandrea Noseda (9 September).

The ±«Óãtv Singers perform in five concerts, including Pärt's St John Passion (17 August) and a Proms Saturday Matinee which includes a ±«Óãtv commission by their Associate Composer Gabriel Jackson, (4 September), while the ±«Óãtv Symphony Chorus also gives the world premiere of a specially commissioned new work by Stephen Montague (8 August).