REVIEW: Fantasia Orchestra BBC Relaxed Prom concert, Royal Albert Hall 9 August 2026
“If you can see them, do.” ★★★★★
Something different this time. The BBC’s Relaxed Prom, a show that had you in and out by Sunday lunchtime and that posed something of a conundrum. How can you effectively critique sincere public expressions of joy? I’m taking what I suppose you could call the simple route. It was marvellous.
The concept of the Relaxed Prom does what it says on the Timpani. An ‘informal’ matinee, there is no dress code (good, it’s too warm) and from the beginning, patrons are told that they are welcome to get up and move around as needed, that bathroom breaks will remain un-tutted. But that sells it short, because what this ‘relaxation’ means in real terms is that the event is spectacularly family friendly, and a large proportion of the audience were parents with young children.
Which leads onto the joy bit. The audience truly gave back what the organisers put in and the room was filled with a kind of casual happiness that stemmed from appreciation of music at the deepest, most fundamental level. The floor was cleared of chairs and became perhaps the world’s most wholesome mosh pit, as families danced along to the beat.
The music itself was perfectly curated, a choice selection that took in a variety of styles and eras but posed no problems for the Fantasia Orchestra and BBC Singers, whose genre-blurring talent was quite, quite brilliant.
The choice to bookend proceedings with some swing classics by Louis Prima and Duke Ellington won everyone over and fit within the event’s Transatlantic theme, celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence.
And then a Radiohead cover, so poignant and full of xylophonic splendour it had the person beside me in tears from the first bar. Messrs Yorke and Greenwood et al would’ve been proud.
Given that it was the Proms, there had to be at least a little Vaughan Williams, although ascending larks were swapped out for the deeply moving Serenade to Music, which the running order tells me lasted a full fourteen minutes, but which seemed to end far too soon.
Special mention must also go to the performance of Meredith Monk’s Panda Chant, a piece based principally on vowel noises, humming, and some impressive footwork from the orchestra themselves, who put down their instruments to stomp and chant with the Singers. While the word “Panda” shouted repeatedly by a grinning crowd could prove menacing at a bus stop, in the Royal Albert Hall, it just seemed right.
Conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh (who founded the Fantasia in 2016 – while still at school) sparkled, guiding the audience through a layered and deeply rewarding setlist. He deserves considerable credit, as does the orchestra generally, for championing young musicians from across the UK.
YolanDa Brown excelled as presenter, interspersing songs with a series of warm and enjoyable ‘I’ll introduce the band throughout the rest of the evening’ style chats with the conductor and orchestra members. It was wonderful to see the musicians themselves given time to discuss their work and only furthered the idea of widening participation. Your reviewer couldn’t shake a misty-eyed thought about the effect these efforts would have on the young, potential virtuosos in the room.
Overall, everyone involved created something that retained an essential Promsiness™ while being genuinely welcoming, open and warm-hearted. I didn’t quite join my lachrymose neighbour in the waterworks, but it was close.
If you can see them, do.
Fantasia Orchestra website https://www.fantasiaorchestra.com/stories/fantasia-orchestra-returns-to-the-bbc-proms-in-our-tenth-anniversary-year
