BBC Proms 2017

On Thursday Augustus 24, the Metropole Orkest was invited to the Royal Albert Hall in Londen for the fourth time in a row. During this BBC Proms concert, the orchestra played ‘Beneath The Underdog: Mingus Revisited’, an ode to the Afro-American bass-player and jazz legend Charles Mingus.

During this special evening, Jules Buckley conducted the Metropole Orkest and artists such as Kandace Springs, Bart van Lier, Shabaka Hutchings, Christian Scott and Leo Pellegrino appeared on stage.

You can listen to the full concert over here.

Below you can find an overview of what appeared in the media regarding the concert:

“Charlie Mingus famously encouraged musicians to play without charts, creating big-band scores with rare spontaneity and energy, so what he would have made of the Metropole Orkest’s lush orchestrations in the rarefied atmosphere of the Royal Albert Hall is open to question. By the end though of this triumph, however, I suspect he’d have been out of his seat, charging towards the stage to congratulate all the players and Metropole conductor Jules Buckley. He would have undoubtedly appreciated the superb musicianship of the Dutch-oriented orchestra.” (Jazzwise Magazine, Metropole Orkest Modernise Mingus On Prom Nights by Adam McCulloch)

“At the Albert Hall, every member of the Metropole Orkest played, shouted and clapped their way through the likes of Moanin’ and Better Git It In Your Soul with characterful, Mingus-like verve.” (Evening Standard, Proms 2017, review: Jules Buckley/ Metropole Orkest by Jane Cornwell)

“The night featured a starry crop of international soloists and the Netherlands’ genre-bridging Metropole Orkest, under Jules Buckley’s direction.” (The Guardian, Prom 53: Charles Mingus Revisited review – starry tribute to jazz revolutionary by John Fordham)