Considering the high quality of most of the artists appearing in the BBC Proms 2007, it astounds me that the critics have chosen to focus on the so-called travesty of the Proms debut of musical theatre singer Michael Ball on 27 August. Exactly why so many commentators are claiming that this represents a first-time appearance for music theatre at the Proms is beyond my intellectual capabilities, because recent seasons have included a complete performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and an evening including music theatre songs by Kurt Weill, while the Last Night has in the past included Broadway star Audra McDonald, Jeremy Irons singing Noel Coward songs and Thomas Hampson in songs from Gershwin's Broadway shows. The success of all these events shows that there is a place for this repertoire at the Proms; and more than that, to describe a concert season which contains rare UK appearances by Claudio Abbado and James Levine, not to mention concerts with Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Chailly, as 'dumbing down' is both false and irresponsible.
Opera and vocal music is as well served as ever, for instance. Glyndebourne Opera brings its new staging of Verdi's Macbeth on 24 July, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; the Proms Ring Cycle comes to its conclusion with Götterdämmerung, starring John Tomlinson and Christine Brewer; and Christoph von Dohnanyi conducts Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle on 20 August. Other vocal highlights include Roger Norrington conducting Haydn's The Seasons on 23 July; Anne Sophie von Otter singing Berlioz's Les nuits d'été on 29 July; Renée Fleming singing Berg's Seven Early Songs and two arias by Korngold on 6 August; Anna Netrebko as the soloist on the Last Night of the Proms; and Deborah Voigt singing the finale scene from Salome on 1 September. Most exciting of all, James Levine returns to the UK for the first time in years to conduct two concerts, one of which is a complete performance of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust.
There are a number of very high-profile conductors and symphony orchestras appearing throughout the summer. Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Santa Cecilia, Rome, in Rossini's Stabat Mater on 16 July; Kurt Masur conducts both his orchestras - the London Philharmonic and Orchestre National de France - in Bruckner's Seventh Symphony on 18 July; Mark Elder brings the Halle on 27 July in Nielsen and Britten; Claudio Abbado conducts Mahler's Third Symphony with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra on 22 August (a sure-fire hit); Bernard Haitink conducts the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in concerts of Bruckner and Wagner on 24 and 25 August; Mariss Jansons conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on 29 and 30 August; and Daniel Barenboim conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in concerts of Austrian and Hungarian music on 3 and 4 September. During the final week of the Proms, James Levine conducts the Boston Symphony in Brahms, Michael Tilson Thomas performs with the San Francisco Symphony, and Riccardo Chailly conducts a tempting programme with the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
As usual, the BBC's own orchestras play a key role in proceedings. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony gets two airings this year (to make up for its absence last year), starting on the First Night with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiri Belohlavek. Rene Pape is the bass soloist: this is not to be missed. The BBC Concert Orchestra offers an evening of music from great British films on 14 July, while Nelson Goerner performs Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the BBC Philharmonic on 19 July. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales appears in two concerts of French music under Thierry Fischer; other highlights include Andrew Davis in an all-English programme with the BBCSO (26 July), Ilan Volkov conducting Mahler, Sibelius, Debussy and Britten with the BBC Scottish Symphony (31 July and 1 August) and Belohlavek taking the helm on the Last Night for the first time (8 September).
More eclectic music is also available in abundance. Cleo Laine and John Dankworth provide a jazz-infused extravaganza on 8 August, for instance; Nitin Sawhney explores Asian music on 10 August; Maxim Vengerov takes the art of multi-tasking to a new level with a concert in which he dances the tango and plays the electric violin and the viola on 18 August; and that concert with Michael Ball promises to be a rousing occasion on 27 August. There are family concerts; the range of Chamber Proms is suitably diverse; and the number of television broadcasts is higher than ever before.
In all, the Proms is still the world's greatest music festival. Don't miss it.