Chris Christodoulou is the official Proms photographer, writes David Nice. From his uniquely privileged position behind a velvet curtain, he captures the white heat of performance. The official shots roll off the press a couple of hours after the concert, but for the past five years our man in the Albert Hall has supplied theartsdesk with unofficial contraband images of conductors in action.
No doubt the presence of only two women in the roster will provoke comment. Blame the Proms for not doing more: the change is happening, but not fast enough. Some of these conductor portraits will make you laugh out loud. But more often, the passion and ferocity are serious proof that some of the best conducting is not about acting but about channelling emotion. In these instances, the second of Richard Strauss’s "Ten Golden Rules" for conducting, that only the audience should perspire, clearly doesn’t apply.
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