Queen members Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus to deliver the first ever symphonic performance of Bohemian Rhapsody at the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday, marking the song's 50th anniversary.
The performance at London's Royal Albert Hall brought a new orchestral arrangement of the rock operetta by Stuart Morley and featured tenor Sam Oladeinde taking on Freddie Mercury's vocal lines, supported by the National Youth Choir, the BBC Singers and soprano Louise Alder for the famed "Bismillah!" passage. The climax combined a recorded line of Mercury singing "any way the wind blows" with Roger Taylor striking what the Proms described as Britain's largest gong, to a roar from the audience.
Sir Brian said backstage that Mercury "would have loved to be here" and joked about what the late singer might have worn, saying: "I think it would be formal. He wouldn't do the short shorts or the leotard. He'd be in tails, very elegant." May delivered the song's iconic guitar solo from a specially extended section of the stage but acknowledged he had missed a cue during the closing solo, calling the performance "very emotional." Chorister and presenter Gareth Malone described Morley's arrangement as giving the piece a "fresh grandeur."
Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan led the Last Night for the first time, acknowledging her Proms debut by hanging a learner's plate from her podium. She said she had curated the evening around themes of childhood and cited Walt Disney's Fantasia as an inspiration; the programme included Paul Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice in reference to that influence.
Soprano Louise Alder, described by Radio 3 critics as a standout, performed a cheeky medley from My Fair Lady in character as Eliza Doolittle and a soaring rendition of the Vilja Song from Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow. Alder adopted a cockney accent and period costume for Wouldn't It Be Loverly and later appeared in a union-flag ballgown for Rule, Britannia!, as the concert returned to the Prom's traditional closing sequence of patriotic songs and sea shanties.
British trumpeter Alison Balsom ended her professional career at the Last Night, performing Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in E flat major — a work she said she first heard as a child at the Barbican. Balsom, 46, received roses from the audience as she concluded what she described as a fulfilling career.
Comedian and musician Bill Bailey provided lighter moments, performing Leroy Anderson's The Typewriter on an actual typewriter with two keys used to avoid jamming and the carriage-return "ding" included. Bailey dedicated the piece to his late mother and later returned to the stage to play Auld Lang Syne on the Royal Albert Hall's famed "voice of Jupiter" organ, after an impromptu run-through of Europe's rock song The Final Countdown.
The Last Night concluded with the customary procession of patriotic favourites, including Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory), Hubert Parry's Jerusalem and the National Anthem, as the audience waved flags, set off party poppers and celebrated the end of an eight-week season.
The 2025 Proms season featured 86 concerts across the UK and included a wide range of repertoire and performers, from jazz singer Samara Joy to the Vienna Symphony's acclaimed performance of Bruckner's Ninth and a highly emotional Mahler Five by Klaus Mäkelä with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The season also presented world premieres and crossover events, including programmes dedicated to the music of The Traitors, film composer Bernard Herrmann, pop artist Jade Thirlwall and guitarist St Vincent.
More than 3,000 musicians took part in the 2025 season, with almost 290,000 tickets sold and millions more tuning in via BBC Radio 3, BBC Sounds and BBC Television. The Proms will return on 17 July 2026 for its 131st season.
The Last Night programme included works ranging from Modest Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain to Dmitry Shostakovich's Festive Overture, world premieres by Camille Pépin and Rachel Portman, the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, and curated arrangements and medleys that bridged classical, theatre and popular music traditions. The mix of solemn, comic and celebratory pieces reflected the Promenade Concerts' long-standing tradition of combining high-art repertoire with accessible and programme-diverse finales.