Last Night of the Proms online

The Last Night of the Proms, the final concert of the BBC Promenade Concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall, is one of the iconic musical events of every season and the most delightfully rowdy affirmation of Britishness to be seen and heard.

This year’s Last Night took place on Sept. 8. Jirí Belohlávek conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with Nicola Benedetti playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor and the Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja (in Olympic track suit) leading the mass sing-along of Thomas Arne’s “Rule, Brittania!”

The BBC’s video stream of the Last Night concert is not available outside Britain, but the audio stream is online here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01mk7zr

So far, only video snippets are available on YouTube. Go to http://www.youtube.com  Search for “Last Night of the Proms 2012.” Leave out the year and you’ll get a treasury of past performances.

My favorite “Rule, Brittania!” from 2011 with Susan Bullock in Anglo-Valkyrie garb, is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnY83VTHSTM