A Prom to remember!

Last night Metropole Orkest made its debut at the BBC Proms with Laura Mvula. A very special night for the musicians as well as the audience and people listening at home.

The concert started of with the upbeat ‘Like the Morning Dew’, before slowing down for Laura’s debut album title track ‘Sing to the Moon’. This song and 7 other clips can be listened to on-demand on the BBC Radio website. A third into the concert Laura Mvula surprised anyone not following her on social media by introducing Esperanza Spalding to the stage to perform ‘Can’t Live with the World’. The multi-talented bass player/singer rejoined the stage to perform one of her originals, ‘Cinnamon Tree’, after the very emotional ‘Father Father’ with Laura at the piano.

The set ended with two songs that made it very difficult for the audience to stay in their seats, Nina Simone’s ‘See Line Woman’ and Laura’s own ‘That’s Alright’. It left the audience wanting more. Luckily a very special encore was prepared. Laura Mvula’s brother James Douglas (both he and sister Dionne Douglas joined the orchestra line-up as they did on the Abbey Road album) took center stage to accompany her on cello on family favorite ‘Human Nature’ with the orchestra and wonderful choir ElectricVocals (who had been adding to the richness of the sound all evening) joining in half-way through the song.

The full concert can be found at the BBC Radio website and will stay available for 4 weeks.

Photos copyright: BBC/Mark Allan