Cbeebies Prom, Royal Albert Hall

The jaunty theme tune of a children’s TV programme is enough to excite kids and exasperate their parents. But combine pre-school popular culture with highbrow classic music and you get educational entertainment for the whole family. 

This year’s Proms feature not only the Cbeebies music, but the wacky wonderful characters too. Get ready to see familiar faces such as Robert the Robot and swashbuckling pirates alongside Stephen Bell, conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Pieces by composer of The Planets Gustav Holst, and Sir Henry Wood's catchy sea-song medley, for many years a staple of the Last Night of the Proms, will be integrated with excerpts from Cbeebies theme tunes and a soundtrack of everyday noises to encourage children to consider different kinds of sounds. 

This unusual debut follows on from a recent theme of children’s TV stars in the Proms line up: 2011’s Horrible Histories prom and last year’s Dr Who themed spectacle have forged a path for family fun classical music. This concert lowers the age focus to pre-schoolers, but the eclectic score makes it enjoyable for parents too.