Battle Proms celebrates its 20th anniversary

The Battle Proms firework finale
The Battle Proms firework finale

The popular UK picnic concert series the Battle Proms is back in 2017, celebrating 20 years. Here’s all the information you need to know.

The Battle Proms firework finale
The Battle Proms firework finale

The ideal way to while away an evening with friends – the not-to-be-missed summer calendar event, the Battle Proms, with its rousing classical music, choreographed Spitfire and cavalry displays, gun salutes, cannon fire and dazzling fireworks in the grounds of some of the country’s most celebrated stately homes, is back for 2017.

Battle Proms Picnic Concert at Highclere Castle
Battle Proms Picnic Concert at Highclere Castle

Launched in 1997 with a performance at Battle Abbey, East Sussex, the open-air Battle Proms takes historical inspiration from the Napoleonic wars and was created to best showcase 200 live firing replica canons. The Proms, which takes its name from Beethoven’s Battle Symphony offers a rare chance to hear the symphony performed as Beethoven intended, with 193 live firing canons, as well as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Battle Symphony – both of which are a signature part of each Battle Proms performance.

Visitors are invited to bring their own picnic spread, then sit back, relax and enjoy the show at one of this year’s program performances at:

• Burghley House in Lincolnshire (8 July), a grand 16th-century Elizabethan house.
• Hatfield House in Hertfordshire (15 July), where Queen Elizabeth I is said to have heard the news of Queen Anne’s death.
• Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire (22 July), the magnificent home of the Marlborough family and a striking Capability Brown-landscaped parkland
• Highclere Castle in Hampshire (5 August), the setting of Downtown Abbey
• Ragley Hall in Warwickshire (12 August), the Palladian-style house and home of the Hertford family

For tickets and more information, visit: www.battleproms.com

Musket Fire at the Battle Proms
Musket Fire at the Battle Proms