Synopsis

Tonight's Prom features Claudio Abbado conducting the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, an ensemble composed of musicians from across the globe, nurtured by Abbado himself. The concert opens with Mussorgsky's dramatic *Songs and Dances of Death*, featuring the acclaimed Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, winner of the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He remarks, "I am thrilled to be making my debut at the Proms, to collaborate for the first time with one of the world's greatest