Prominent British anthems Rule, Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory are set to be axed from the BBC Proms amid the Black Lives Matter movement according to an insider.
The broadcaster is considering dropping the patriotic songs from the Last Night concert due to fears of a backlash because of their apparent links to colonialism and slavery, the Times reported.
Dalia Stasevska, who is conducting the Last Night on September 12, is said to believe ‘a ceremony without an audience is the perfect moment to bring change.’
The usual patriotic crowds will be absent from London’s Royal Albert Hall during the 125th annual Last Night of the Proms concert due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Stasevska, 35, will compile the concert’s programme alongside Proms director David Pickard, 60, and South African vocalist Golda Schultz, 36.
But this year, the orchestra is expected to be around half its usual size due to social distancing guidelines introduced by the Government in the wake of the pandemic.
In other measures introduced amid the Covid-19 outbreak, performers will have their temperatures checked and robotic cameras will replace human operators.
Jan Younghusband, head of BBC music TV commissioning, has confirmed the content of the concert is still under review.
She said: ‘We have a lot of problems about how many instruments we can have. It is hard to know whether it is physically possible to do [Rule Britannia].’
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