The Art of Conducting 2011

All images © BBC/Chris Christodoulou

THE ART OF CONDUCTING: A fabulous gallery of Proms maestros in eye-catching action

The greatest music festival of them is once more upon us. Throughout our extensive coverage of last year's BBC Proms, we featured the remarkable work of photographer Chris Christodoulou. We have asked Chris to select his favourite pictures of conductors at work, and we present them again for your entertainment and enlightenment as the world's greatest conductors again take to the podium for the summer to show exactly what it takes to do what they do.

The portraits find the maestri of the podium displaying the full range of communicative emotions - commanding, pleading, imperious, plaintive. Click on the images to see the conductors in all their gurning, bug-eyed glory. And we can all look forward to more from incisive portraits seen through Chris's all-glimpsing lens.