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

Support the future of arts journalism

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thanks so much for choosing genuinely independent arts journalism theartsdesk’s mission has never been more important – in an age of relentless algorithmic recommendation, sponsored content and unreliable AI, the expertise and discernment of individual critics deeply embedded in their specialist areas is absolutely vital.

If you want more of that in your life, why not subscribe now?

If you do this before the 31st August, you’ll be able to keep at this “founders rate” for life: your subs will never increase! You can choose to subscribe annually for just £40 simply click here
or monthly for £5 per month simply click here.

Not ready to subscribe?

If you want to support with a little extra or aren’t ready to subscribe just yet, there’s also the option to give direct to our crowdfunder to support our imminent redesign and exciting expansion with new features and collaborations Simply contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d.

However you choose to be involved, you can proudly say that you are picking the right side in the battle for truth and humanity in the modern information landscape. And we will be very glad to have you on board!