The Proms: Music festival from home - News Review

Learn English vocabulary to talk about the news. The BBC Proms will go ahead this summer in London – but not as we know it. The season will start with musicians performing from lockdown, and potentially end with live concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Neil and Catherine look at the vocabulary in the news around this story.

Video chapters

0:00 - Introduction
0:28 - The story
1:50 - Headline 1: BBC Proms 2020 to hold virtual first night Beethoven tribute and live last night celebrations
4:50 - Headline 2: BBC Proms reveals plans for 'mash-up' first night and live last night
8:22 - Headline 3: The Proms are part of our national psyche - a Last Night in isolation is unthinkable
11:10 - Language summary

The story
The BBC Proms is going ahead this summer, but with a difference. The event will open in July with a virtual concert inspired by Beethoven recorded by 350 musicians in their own homes. Hopefully, the season will end with live performances at the Royal Albert Hall in the final fortnight.

Key words and phrases
virtual
appearing via the internet
Examples:
Virtual reality will change the media.
Virtual pub nights have become normal during the UK’s lockdown.

mash-up
media product which combines clips and music from a number of sources
Examples:
Gamers are excited about the latest mashup of classics.
Celebrity mashups often go viral.

unthinkable
not possible to imagine
Examples:
Before the pandemic, the idea of cancelling the Olympics was unthinkable.
Rob says he’s giving up biscuits, but, frankly, that’s unthinkable.

To download the audio and test your understanding, go to our website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/newsreview/unit-14/session-150

*Please note: We have decided to activate YouTube's automatic subtitles on this video. The BBC is not responsible for the accuracy of YouTube automatic subtitles.

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