19:30 Mon 31 Aug 2020 Royal Albert Hall
Crack open the champagne and don your evening dress as the BBC Concert Orchestra host a night of Viennese operetta marking 150 years since the birth of Franz Lehár. Johann Strauss II and other contemporaries offer their own musical confections.

About This Event
Marking 150 years since the birth of Franz Lehár – and recalling the long-running Proms tradition of the ‘Viennese Night’ begun in the 1950s – we step into the gilded ballroom of operetta, evoking the glamour and sophistication of turn-of-the-century Vienna.

Clink your glasses to an evening of champagne-filled romance and melody featuring excerpts from Lehár’s most popular titles such as The Merry Widow, The Land of Smiles and Giuditta, as well as music by fellow creators of the ‘Silver Age’ of Viennese operetta – and excerpts from the most enduring and popular operetta of them all, Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus (‘The Bat’). The ever-stylish BBC Concert Orchestra graces the stage, under its Principal Conductor Bramwell Tovey.

It will not be possible to have an audience at the Royal Albert Hall.

Live on BBC Radio 3 & live-streamed to BBC iPlayer

Programme
Franz Lehár
The Merry Widow – overture (9 mins)
Oscar Straus
The Chocolate Soldier (5 mins)
Duet: ‘Don’t’ eat them all, you greedy man’ (arr. Ronald Hanmer)
Franz Lehár
Giuditta – ‘Meine lippen, sie süssen so heiss’ (6 mins)
arr. Hans Schneider
Emmerich Kálmán
Countess Maritza – ‘Wenn es Abend wird’ … Grüss mir mein Wien’ (5 mins)
(arr. Max Schönherr)
Johann Strauss II
Die Fledermaus – overture (9 mins)
Franz Lehár
Paganini – Prelude and Violin Solo (4 mins)
arr. Harry Dexter
Richard Heuberger
Der Opernball (6 mins)
Rendezvous-Duettino (‘Im Chambre Séparée’)
Franz Lehár
Gold and Silver Waltz (8 mins)
The Merry Widow – Vilja (6 mins)
arr. Phil Park/Ronald Hanmer
The Land of Smiles – ‘You are my heart’s delight’ (4 mins)
Johann Strauss II
Pizzicato Polka (3 mins)
Die Fledermaus – Watch Duet (5 mins)
arr. Stanford Robinson
Performers
Sophie Bevan
soprano
Robert Murray
tenor
BBC Concert Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey
conductor