Proms pomp a proper romp

Musical mischief and mayhem are unleashed in the Dunedin Town Hall next week. Nigel Benson previews Last Night of the Proms.

There's something about the Proms.

It's the one time of the year that orchestral music loosens its tie, rolls up its sleeves and has some good old-fashioned fun.

And everyone, from performers to punters, comes to the party.

The Proms, with its patriotic fervour, is especially significant to some people.

Dunedin mother-of-seven Diana Struthers spent her early childhood in London after World War 2 and has taken her family to the Proms every year since the Southern Sinfonia made it a regular annual feature in 1995.

"It was after the war and we were there for the Coronation in 1953.

Many parts of London were still bomb sites, so they covered up all the muck and debris and grey buildings with bunting," she said.

"I guess the Union Jack was a symbol of pride above all that dirt and grime.

"It made an impression on me as a young child.

"Plus, at school, we were always drawing Union Jacks and singing patriotic songs."

She later inherited the Union Jack and New Zealand flag she takes to the Proms every year.

"My husband waves them enthusiastically.

"We often take our children's friends too.

"It's a great concert to take children who may not have been to a concert before.

"We love it.

"I especially love the ending with the sea shanties and the old patriotic numbers like Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia and Jerusalem.

"It's lovely music.

"I love singing it."

An Otago Daily Times photographer spotted the family outside the Town Hall at their first Proms concert in 1995.

"The nine of us were lined up with our flags.

Chloe was in her school uniform holding the baby, who was 1 year old, and she and Rupert, the eldest, who was 15 years old, were looking like they'd rather not have their photograph taken," she recalled.

A tradition at the Proms is for an audience member to win the chance to conduct the orchestra.

"I conducted the cancan in 2006.

"It was the most incredible experience.

"You feel immensely powerful and full of jubilation.

"It was such gorgeous rousing music and everyone was clapping so I turned around to conduct the audience.

"There were girls I knew on the floor doing the cancan and when I looked up into the gods it was full of people clapping.

"The excitement of the musicians and the crowd, so absorbed by it all, was wonderful."

However, she was a little taken aback when the orchestra informed her beforehand that they would be ignoring her baton-waving.

"They said I had to just start them and finish them; the rest they wouldn't be following.

"When I told my brother-in-law, who was a violinist with the English National Opera, he said: 'We never do'.

"I delayed the ending because it sounded so good and afterwards a clarinettist said to me 'I nearly burst my lungs for you'."

The Proms this year features sopranos Deborah Wai Kapohe and Rebecca Ryan and master of ceremonies comedian David McPhail.