York Proms concert set to go ahead

The open air concert is planned for July next year, helping to raise money for the York Museums Trust.

York Museum Gardens will be filled with some of the world’s favourite classical music next July, with the first York Prom given the official green light.

The new open air concert will help raise money for the York Museums Trust and has been organised by "Peoples Soprano" Rebecca Newman and her husband Jonathan Fewtrell.

Jonathon says they were surprised the city didn’t have an open air classical music event and set out to change it:

We have never been people who sit and wait for things to happen, so we decided to take on the challenge to launch the York Proms ourselves. After looking at potential venues for some time we are really pleased to go into partnership with the York Museum Trust to secure such a beautiful, central setting in York, which will make for a truly magical event.

Rebecca started out as a busker in York, and had her self-released album Dare to Dream go to number 1 in the classical albums chart, has urged anyone interested in helping with the event to contact them:

It’s very important that we have great links with the local community and we have some fantastic ideas to get local talent and suppliers involved with the event. We have lots of local people helping out with the management and we’re very proud to be working closely with the York Museum’s Trust.

Mike Woodward, the chief operating officer for the York Museum Trust, said:

We are really pleased to be working with Rebecca, Jonathan and their team on the first York Proms. The event promises to be a relaxing summer’s evening of fantastic music in the beautiful setting of York Museum Gardens.

The show line up is being finalized and tickets will go on sale at 9am on the 10th of December, but the York Proms mailing list is offering pre-sale tickets and an early bird discount.

You can find more details on the York Proms website.