BBC Proms 2025: Star Wars, London Philharmonic & day-tripping at Chelsea Physic Garden
- Anita W. Harris
- Aug 13
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 8
Having first experienced three summertime BBC Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London last year, I looked forward to attending two of this year’s plethora of classical music offerings while communing with plants during the day.
The Planets and Star Wars
I was fortunate to get a box seat on Aug. 9 for the quickly sold-out “The Planets and Star Wars,” featuring Dalia Stasevska conducting the U.K.'s National Youth Orchestra.
The combination makes sense — hearing Holst’s “The Planets” performed at last year’s Proms, I couldn’t help noticing how John Williams must have been inspired by them for his Star Wars themes, especially how the militant “Mars” evokes his Empire theme.
This evening’s Prom began with a selection of five compositions from four different Star Wars films before American composer Caroline Shaw’s transporting “The Observatory” — inspired in part by her stargazing at L.A.’s Griffith Observatory — and finishing with all seven movements of “The Planets.”
Beginning with the well-known “Main Title” theme from the first released film, “A New Hope,” the audience was immediately drawn into the Star Wars universe by the more than 100-member teen orchestra.
“Across the Stars” then transported the audience via harp and violin to Padme and Anakin’s budding romance in Episode II (causing at least one eyeroll in the Hall), before the somewhat more mysterious and subtly sinister “Psalm of the Sith” from Episode IX.
“Scherzo for X-Wings” from Episode VII then carried us back into an adventurous feeling (scherzo is Italian for “jest,” referring to a more light-hearted and faster-paced piece). The Star Wars part of the program then culminated in “The Jedi Steps and Finale” from that same film, evoking Rey climbing the stairs of Luke’s remote island to train.
While each of the five chosen pieces was very different, it’s interesting how Williams sometimes threaded moments from previous compositions into the newer ones, creating an overall cohesion and perhaps musically echoing how the films show history repeating itself with new generations of characters.
The orchestra’s subsequent rendition of Shaw’s 2019 “The Observatory” was the newest for me — delightfully varied and plucky at times, but overall evocative of a transcendent experience through its higher pitched sounds.
All “The Planets” pieces were then also a delight to hear, just as they were last year, each movement reflecting the “personality” and perhaps influence of each planet — a war-bound “Mars,” the high peaceful and hopeful notes of “Venus,” a puckish “Mercury,” the very grand “Jupiter,” the very somber “Saturn,” techno-inflected “Uranus” and otherworldly “Neptune,” which featured an ethereal choir at the very top level of the Hall receding out a door as the piece faded. A sublime ending.
Except perhaps for “Jupiter,” the National Youth Orchestra under Stasevska’s direction performed each piece in a slightly softer, slightly slower paced and slightly more string-heavy way than last year when the “nature” of each planet came across more distinctly. Still, this youthful but talented orchestra impressed in valiantly performing such a strenuous program, as did their expressive conductor.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra: a sea of sound
After hearing the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) on the following night, Aug. 10, it seems that orchestral age and experience may make a difference after all.
Punctiliously conducted by Edward Gardner, the LPO truly amazed with four very different twentieth-century pieces loosely connected by an oceanic theme, beginning with Sibelius’ wavy “The Oceanides.”
After that, Tippett’s “The Rose Lake” delighted, though Debussy’s “La Mer” at the end was fantastic — I felt myself enraptured as if falling into an ocean of music (no doubt by design), floating on waves of different instrumental sounds while energized at the same time.
Between these two pieces, beautiful mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina joined the LPO for Ravel’s “Shéhérazade,” her voice flowing in swells of emotion, speaking in the sheer language of song, the orchestra serving as restrained background. It was mesmerizing.
Note: If you have a chance to see the LPO perform anything, especially with Edward Gardner conducting, just go.
Day-tripping at the Chelsea Physic Garden
During the daytime before the concert, I had the pleasure of strolling through the Chelsea Physic Garden, just a bus ride away from the Royal Albert Hall toward the Thames River. While the vast Hyde Park is directly across the street from the Hall, the relatively intimate Chelsea Physic Garden offers a botanic wonderland at a more human scale.
Featuring thousands of plant species from around the globe — all well organized, curated and labeled — the Garden delights the intellect as well as the senses. Free hour-long tours showcase the Garden’s four quadrants of “useful” plants, including medicinal, poisonous, edible and those used for dyes or perfumes.
Begun by apothecaries in 1673, many of the plants were brought to the Garden during British colonialism, such as tea, opium, tobacco, hemp and black mulberry trees, which were supposed to feed silkworms — all the better to avoid importing silk from China — except that silkworms actually prefer leaves of the white mulberry. D’oh.
The Garden’s café offers splendid tea, lunch and dessert items, and many benches throughout offer shady respite as you wander slowly through, enjoying learning about every plant. The shop is a perfect place to buy seeds of some of the resident flora, such as St. John’s Wort that can help balance mood.
Plan(t) to go
Between day-tripping at the Chelsea Physic Garden and rapturous evening music at the Royal Albert Hall, well really, what more could one want from a London excursion? The BBC Proms continues this summer through Sept. 14, or plan ahead for next year at the BBC’s Proms website. And be sure to plan a visit to the Chelsea Physic Garden during the day. Your spirit will thank you.
BBC Proms 2025 continues through Sept. 14, with performances most days at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London. For tickets and information, visit BBC Proms or the Royal Albert Hall.
Chelsea Physic Garden is located at 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, open Sundays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets range from £5 to £15 and can be purchased by visiting ChelseaPhysicGarden.co.uk.
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