Eyes and teeth: Conductors at the 2016 Proms

Eyes and teeth: Conductors at the 2016 Proms | reviews, news & interviews

Eyes and teeth: Conductors at the 2016 Proms

Feast on our annual parade of bulging eyeballs and windmill arms at the Royal Albert Hall

by TheartsdeskMonday, 12 September 2016

Vladimir Jurowski: one in the eye for the LPO Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

The concert photographer Chris Christodoulou has been taking pictures at the BBC Proms for 35 years. Even more than the musicians under their baton, he spends his time watching conductors like a hawk, observing their every gesture and grimace. Every year the wackier images, which convey less dignity but more truth, don’t make it into the public eye.

Or they didn’t until we at The Arts Desk entered into collaboration with Christodoulou. This year we publish our seventh gallery of his action portraits. Normally we publish only one snap per conductor. This time round, to help the Proms along with the project of improving gender and ethnic diversity among conductors, there are two images each of Rafael Payere, the Venezuelan graduate of El Sistema, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, the new music director of the CBSO who made her Proms debut this year.

Enjoy Chris Christodoulou’s previous conductors galleries: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Chris Christodoulou on the fine art of shooting conductors
Read all theartsdesk's reviews of the BBC Proms

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge

Prom 1: Sakari Oramo

Prom 2: Sir Antonio Pappano

Prom 4: Valeri Gergiev

Prom 9: Jérémie Rhorer

Prom 11: Mark Wigglesworth

Prom 14: Enrique Mazzola

Prom 13: Vladimir Jurowski

Prom 15: Sir Andrew Davis

Prom 16: Jac van Steen

Prom 18: Bernard Haitink

Prom 21: Nicholas Collon

Prom 22: Edward Gardner

Prom 20: Sir John Eliot Gardner

Prom 23: John Storgårds

Prom 24: Juanjo Mena

Prom 31: Thomas Dausgaard

Prom 37: Thomas Sondergard

Prom 40: Thomas Adès

Prom 42: Harry Christophers

Prom 43: Daniel Barenboim

Prom 46: Ilan Volkov

Prom 47: Rafael Payare

Prom 48: Matthias Pintscher

Prom 53: Vasily Petrenko

Prom 55: Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

Prom 59: Herbert Blomstedt

Prom 60: Philippe Jordan

Prom 63: William Christie

Prom 64: Sir Simon Rattle

Prom 65: Baldur Brönnimann

Prom 68: Sir Mark Elder

Prom 75: Sakari Oramo

Explore topics

Share this article

The future of Arts Journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £49,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

more Classical music

Bizet in 150th anniversary year: rich and rare French offerings from Palazzetto Bru Zane Specialists in French romantic music unveil a treasure trove both live and on disc

Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ibragimova, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - rarities, novelties and drumrolls A pity the SCO didn't pick a better showcase for a shining guest artist

Kilsby, Parkes, Sinfonia of London, Wilson, Barbican review - string things zing and sing in expert hands British masterpieces for strings plus other-worldly tenor and horn - and a muscular rarity

From Historical to Hip-Hop, Classically Black Music Festival, Kings Place review - a cluster of impressive stars for the future From quasi-Mozartian elegance to the gritty humour of a kitchen inspection

Shibe, LSO, Adès, Barbican review - gaudy and glorious new music alongside serene Sibelius Adès’s passion makes persuasive case for the music he loves, both new and old

Anja Mittermüller, Richard Fu, Wigmore Hall review - a glorious hall debut The Austrian mezzo shines - at the age of 22

First Person: clarinettist Oliver Pashley on the new horizons of The Hermes Experiment's latest album Compositions by members of this unusual quartet feature for the first time

Gesualdo Passione, Les Arts Florissants, Amala Dior Company, Barbican review - inspired collaboration excavates the music's humanity At times it was like watching an anarchic religious procession

Classical CDs: Camels, concrete and cabaret An influential American composer's 90th birthday box, plus British piano concertos and a father-and-son duo

Cockerham, Manchester Camerata, Sheen, Martin Harris Centre, Manchester review - re-enacting the dawn of modernism Two UK premieres added to three miniatures from a seminal event of January 1914

Kempf, Brno Philharmonic, Davies, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - European tradition meets American jazz Bouncing Czechs enjoy their Gershwin and Brubeck alongside Janáček and Dvořák

Solomon, OAE, Butt, QEH review - daft Biblical whitewashing with great choruses Even a top soprano and mezzo can’t make this Handel paean wholly convincing

Follow @theartsdesk