Dame Harriet Walter will perform at Last Night of the Proms

Dame Harriet Walter said she “can’t wait” to perform during the Last Night Of The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

The star of stage and screen, 71, will perform Sibelius’s Snofrid, in a new translation by Edward Kemp, alongside a choir compromising BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Chorus on September 10.

Dame Harriet, who plays retired USSR gymnast-turned-assassin Dasha opposite Jodie Comer’s Villanelle in Killing Eve, said: “I have to confess I’ve only ever watched the Last Night of The Proms on TV.

“Now I not only get to physically attend, but I get to perform in that thrilling space with the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, the BBC Singers and Dalia Stasevska.

“I have loved Sibelius since I first heard Finlandia in my 20s and Snofrid has all of his lyricism and dramatic energy. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

This year’s festival finale is led by BBC Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor Dalia Stasevska and will include all the “traditional Last Night favourites”, the BBC said.

The concert will also star soprano Lise Davidsen and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in “party pieces” by Verdi, Wagner and Coleridge-Taylor, as well as the rising British composer James B. Wilson.

This year, the Proms returned to its full eight-week season from July 15, with 84 concerts starring more than 3,000 musicians.

It saw the return of international orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker led by Kirill Petrenko, the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Australian World Orchestra led by Zubin Mehta.

It also featured a large-scale repertoire, not heard at the festival since 2019, from Verdi’s Requiem to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed by the Chineke! Orchestra, and Voices under Kevin John Edusei.

Mastermind host and BBC News correspondent Clive Myrie presented the First Night Of The Proms, while TV naturalist Chris Packham hosted the debut of Earth Prom.

The BBC Proms also featured the newly formed Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra – led by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson – which included musicians who are now refugees and Ukrainian members of European orchestras.

The full repertoire for the Last Night of the Proms will be announced in due course, the BBC said.