Morning in Long Island on 18 July 2011 – Proms 5 at 7.30 pm Royal Albert Hall

Introducing the French strand in this year's season, Myung-Whun Chung and his Paris-based orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, preface an exciting new commission from a prominent contemporary voice with the first orchestral work of a great man briefly his teacher, Olivier Messiaen. Shaping the raw power of massed orchestral forces comes naturally to the eclectic and prolific Pascal Dusapin, who combines stylistic experimentation - earlier works have featured archaic-sounding scales and microtones - with emotional directness.

Proms Plus Portrait: Pascal Dusapin on 27 July 2011 at 5.15 pm Royal College of Music

Pascal Dusapin discusses his String Quartet No. 6, 'Hinterland', with Andrew McGregor, and introduces a performance of his chamber work Trio Rombach by musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Quatuor VI "Hinterland" on 27 July 2011 – Proms 16 at 7.00 pm Royal Albert Hall

Thierry Fischer and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales perform contrasting French favourites, joined by the Arditti Quartet for the UK premiere of a recent work by Pascal Dusapin. According to the composer, 'Irvine Arditti asked me for many years to compose a quartet with orchestra. I refused as politely as possible … Irvine went on trying, again and again. 'The result is a discourse in which, he says, 'each party sets the other one into motion, as if one were the dream of the other'.


the BBC proms