Proms chief issues ‘no politics’ plea

The Last Night of the Proms should not be a political occasion, the chief of the worldfamous music festival has said, despite tensions over Brexit. The programme for this year’s event has been announced and it includes the first ever Prom dedicated to hip-hop.

Other highlights include an evening dedicated to Nina Simone, and a concert to mark the 50th anniversary of man landing on the moon.

Since the Brexit referendum, some concert-goers at the Last Night of the Proms have shown their solidarity with the European Union by waving EU flags.

Asked whether this year’s finale, a traditionally patriotic occasion, will be a political hot potato, Proms director David Pickard said: “I hope not.

“I want the Last Night not to be a political occasion but a musical occasion.

“It’s a time for letting your hair down, it’s a time to celebrate the end of this great festival and I don’t want it to be a political platform.

“In the end, I can only say, from the three or four years I’ve been doing this job, the Last Night of the Proms, whatever the political tensions there might be, has always been and always felt like a great celebration of music.”

The Proms run from Friday 19 July to Saturday 14 September.