Page 67 - Coverage Book_Aurora Orchestra Autumn 2020

But after a backlash in the press, and an intervention by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, it reinstated
the lyrics, saying socially-distanced members of the BBC Singers would perform in the Royal Albert
Hall's otherwise empty stalls.

After the possible omission, and then the indecision, followed by the controversy, and the
accusations of wetness - Britannia finally did rule the airwaves.

And so tradition prevailed over those who thought the words too imperialistic for this day and age.

But it wasn't quite business as usual at this year's Last Night: it was a Prom without promenaders,
with a pared down, socially distanced BBC Symphony Orchestra led by the Finnish conductor Dalia
Stasevska, and barely a flag or a hat in sight.

The Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti - a late replacement for a poorly soloist - played Vaughan
Williams's romantic pastoral favourite, The Lark Ascending

The talking point of the night is likely to be composer Errollyn Wallen's radical re-working of Hubert
Parry's Prom favourite Jerusalem, to which she introduced dissonance and blues references - a
tribute, she said, to the Windrush generation of migrants who came to Britain.

It was sung, brilliantly, by the South African soprano Golda Schultz.

It has been a very strange year; the Pandemic Proms quite different without a live audience,
particularly this evening's Last Night in which even Edward Elgar's Land of Hope and Glory seemed
subdued.

The 2020 Proms season was drastically curtailed by the coronavirus epidemic, with the usual eight-
week season cut down to a fortnight of live shows, performed without an audience.

The programme was simplified in other ways, too - mostly featuring smaller works, with UK-based
soloists and orchestras.

A reduced orchestra of 65 instead of the usual 300 performed live at the Royal Albert Hall - with the
singers stood in the stalls to ensure social distancing.

However, there were some successful attempts to make the best of the situation.

On the opening weekend, Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra positioned their brass
players in boxes around the Albert Hall, answering and colliding with each other as they played
Giovanni Gabrieli's brass Canzons.

Folk singer Laura Marling also made her Proms debut, playing an intimate set of songs accompanied
by an un-conducted string orchestra the 12 Ensemble.

And the Aurora Orchestra played Beethoven's 7th Symphony from memory while standing (as has
become their trademark) drawing praise and admiration on social media.