Superstar conductor Marin Alsop returns to the Royal Albert Hall with a pair of masterpieces by her mentor Leonard Bernstein in the American cultural giant's centenary year. Joining her from across the Atlantic is the energetic Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, performing at the Proms for the first time. The concert opens with Slava!, which Bernstein dedicated to virtuoso cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, followed by the composer's Second Symphony - The Age of Anxiety, performed by world-class pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. The evening culminates in Shostakovich's politically-charged Fifth Symphony.

Tom Service presents a performance of Elgar's much-loved Cello Concerto, composed in the wake of the First World War, with French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras as soloist. The Prom begins with Edward Gardner conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of the choral miniature For A Soldier's Funeral by French composer Lili Boulanger. The final piece is Vaughan Williams's cantata Dona Nobis Pacem, a beautiful but heart-breaking exploration of the violence of war, as part of this season's focus on the centenary of the end of the First World War.