01/10/2023
Two gay legends of music, Rufus Wainwright, and Scissor Sisters Frontman Jake Shears were united on stage during the final week of the BBC Proms and broadcast live on the BBC's arts network BBC Radio Three. Mr Wainwright was returning to the Proms with his composition "Want Symphoinc One and Two". He invited Mr Shears to duet with him on a song called "Old Whore's Diet" accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Rufus Wainwright says: “I have known Jake for my entire career. He actually gave me the Scissor Sisters’ tape with some of their early demos and asked me for advice and then they became bigger than anything I had ever heard of. I have always admired Jake for his musical vision and I am so excited that we finally get the chance to properly sing together and sing a song of mine that I think we both can relate to very well.” The Proms, which refer to "a promenade concert" have been run and broadcast by the BBC since 1930, but were formally inagugurated in 1895, before the advent of radio, by a number of notable classical music figures led by Henry Wood. But Wikipedia notes that informal promenade concerts had been in existence in London since 1838, meaning the current Proms have a continious history dating back nearly 200 years. The season is a significant event in British culture and in classical music. Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek described the Proms as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival". BBC Radio Three, which broadcasts the majority of the Proms today, can be found on FM between 90 and 92 MHz and on DAB radio as well as on Freeview, and cable platforms.
