David Pickard stepping down as BBC Proms director next year

David Pickard will step down as director of the BBC Proms, the corporation has announced.

The director, who was appointed in the role in 2015, will remain in post until October 2024.

Pickard said: “It has been an immense honour and privilege to run the world’s greatest classical music festival alongside an incredible team, working with many of the most exciting orchestras, musicians and artists on the planet.

“By the end of next summer I will have planned and delivered nine Proms seasons and it feels like the right time to move on and explore new projects. After the critical and box office success of the 2023 Proms, I look forward to delivering one more season in 2024.”

During his last year, he will work on the Proms 2024 and plan for future seasons.

Recruitment for his replacement will begin in the New Year, the BBC said.

During Mr Pickard’s tenure, the BBC Proms became embroiled in a row over the decision not to sing Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory on the Last Night in 2020.

The decision was later reversed with the BBC confirming in August that the traditional anthems will be sung after criticism from then-prime minister Boris Johnson.

The BBC director-general at the time, Lord Hall, said it had been primarily a “creative” choice but added that there had been discussion about Britain’s imperial history by Mr Pickard and his team.

There were also complaints by Conservative political figures after a pro-remain group handed out EU flags that were used during the Last Night of the Proms.

There were some EU flags spotted during the BBC’s coverage of the evening in September 2023 when Rule, Britannia! played at the Royal Albert Hall, which usually prompts the audience to wave flags.

The Proms also included the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra last year and marked the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage and the end of the First World War in 2018.

Last year, the BBC Proms had both the First Night and Last Night conducted by women – Dalia Stasevska and Marin Alsop.

It also had the first weekend-long Proms festival outside London in its history at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music in the north east of England, according to the BBC.

Sam Jackson, controller of BBC Radio 3, said Mr Pickard has done a “fantastic job” and thanked him for his work.

Mr Jackson added: “It was a pleasure working alongside him this season, where I saw first-hand his commitment to musical excellence and reaching broader audiences – leading to record-breaking figures on BBC Sounds and iPlayer.

“David has consistently championed classical music at the BBC, in particular the BBC’s own orchestras and choirs, ensuring they remain the beating heart of every Proms season. I look forward to working with him again next year and giving him a proper send-off after the Last Night of the Proms.”

Mr Pickard had been general director of Glyndebourne for more than a decade and spent eight years as chief executive of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment before being appointed as BBC Proms director.

He had previously told the PA news agency in 2019, during a time of political tensions around Brexit, that he wants the Proms “not to be a political occasion but a musical occasion”.

Speaking about female conductors, featured on the Proms, he also said that “we still inherit the past of a male-dominated compositional world” and “sadly, conducting has been seen as a male preserve in the past”.

The Proms also sparked controversy in 2018 over a US actress playing the part of Puerto Rican immigrant Maria in an a performance of West Side Story.

Canadian singer and actress Mikaela Bennett then took on the role after Broadway star Sierra Boggess from Colorado quit, saying she would be denying “Latinas the opportunity to sing this score”.