Under Construction Journal Issue 6.1 UNDER CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL 6.1 | Page 14

Five years later, following a run of critically acclaimed performances, the work was
granted a prestigious BBC Proms premiere. Vladimir Jurowski would conduct the National Youth Orchestra
of Great Britain, while four-time Battle for Supremacy World Champion Mr Switch was invited to
manipulate the turntables, and forever be acclaimed as the first DJ to perform at the Proms. Gabriel
Prokofiev had been granted an opportunity to stage a hip-hop block-party during the 'world's greatest
classical music festival'; 12 a party showcasing the art of turntablism to a staunch classical audience; a party
displaying the scratch techniques and street-wise beats engendered by DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick
Avenue some forty-six years earlier. 'Low-art' was to come knocking on the doors of a most revered 'high-
art' institution.
A Prom Night for Hip-Hop
Prokofiev's concerto would open a concert focussing primarily on canonical works. Benjamin Britten's
Piano Concerto (rev. 1945) would follow it, while the second half would be dedicated entirely to selections
from Sergei Prokofiev's celebrated ballet, Romeo and Juliet (1935). When considering the mores and
morays of his 'high-art' audience, and given that the musical manifestation of his own grandfather's soul
was to be in attendance, for Gabriel Prokofiev, this was a concert that demanded an immediate and
provocative cultural statement. His first act was to supersize the orchestra.
On the afternoon of the performance, a profuse and visually impressive National Youth
Orchestra set up with twelve winds, eleven brass, a fifty-strong family of strings and five harps. A centrally
situated rock drum kit sat prominently in front of a percussion section that saw piccolo and large snare
drums, a samba bass drum, a glass bottle and two more timpani added to its already substantial 'chamber'
contingent. Upstage left; a large and austere desk obscured almost four ranks of cellists. Atop the desk's
jet-black cloth sat twin turntables with DJ Mixer and a graffitied laptop whose outer cover, turned towards
the audience, was adorned with hip-hop stylised stickers and murals, and the somewhat mischievous
message, 'Your Mum Rang'.
Later that evening, as the Prommers enter the arena and a global television and radio
audience tune in, the orchestra, soloist and musical director are, unusually, already on stage casually
conversing. On this night, there is to be no grand, ritualistic artistic entrance: no 'us and them'. A television
camera catches the conductor and two orchestral members chatting with the DJ, leaning on his desk,
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"Proms: The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival," BBC, accessed October 10, 2019, www.bbc.co.uk/proms.
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