BBC Proms: Puccini and Strauss

Two of the 20th-century’s most powerful operas come together in a concert by Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra, performed at the BBC Proms.

Motherhood – longed-for or feared, inevitable or impossible – is the thread binding the devastating melodrama of Puccini’s one-act Suor Angelica to Strauss’ darkly ambiguous fable Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow), each a battle for humanity and its future.

Soprano Carolina López Moreno stars as Puccini’s tragic Sister Angelica, whose past conceals a terrible secret. Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra are joined by three choirs and three outstanding vocal soloists for a work of hope that emerged from the ashes of destruction.