Proms in the Park 2026: film scores and 90s hits

Bournemouth's Proms in the Park is back for 2026, and it's a double bill that swaps the concert hall for Meyrick Park on Central Drive, just a ten-minute walk from town centre. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is running the whole thing, and the two nights are built for very different moods, so it's worth picking the one that suits you best.

The first night, Friday 7 August, is the cinematic one. Billed as 'Now That's What I Call Symphonic Music!', it runs from 8pm to 10pm and leans hard into the big screen. You'll get John Williams' Star Wars and E.T. Flying Theme, Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings, and Hans Zimmer's Interstellar, alongside the classical side of things: Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, Rachmaninov's Symphony No.2 allegro molto, Strauss' Die Fledermaus Overture, Delibes' Mazurka from Coppelia, Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain and Stravinsky's The Firebird. Beethoven and Tchaikovsky get a look-in too. Enyi Okpara is conducting, and the night finishes with a fireworks display over the park, which is the real reason a lot of people turn up.

Saturday 8 August flips the script entirely. 'Symphonic Smash Hits – the 90s!' is the BSO Pops Orchestra's version of a decade-round party, again from 8pm to 10pm, with Pete Harrison conducting and a line-up of singers including Sharlene Hector, Laura Tebbutt, Patrick Smyth and Nick Shirm. The setlist reads like a 90s radio playlist: Robbie Williams' Bittersweet Symphony and Let Me Entertain You, Cher's Believe and Livin' La Vida Loca, Spice Girls' Wannabe, Britney's Baby One More Time, Madonna's Vogue, Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger, Take That's Never Forget, and plenty more. It's the sort of night where you're more likely to be singing along than sitting quietly.

On tickets, there's a bit of a sliding scale depending on when you commit. Earlybird is £33, advance is £36 and on the day it goes up to £40, though another pricing structure lists adults at £37 and under-16s and concessions at £21. Each night runs to about two and a half hours, so pack in a bit of extra time around it. There's a group discount of £1 off for ten or more full-price tickets, and if you're bringing a crowd of 20 or more, the box office wants a phone call to sort out extra offers. The BSO also runs multibuy discounts of 5% to 30% if you book 23 or more concerts directly through their ticket office, so it's worth weighing up if you're planning a bigger run of classical music over the year.

For booking, the box office is on 01202 669925, open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, or you can email hello@bsorchestra.co.uk. The BSO is a registered charity, and the event is sponsored by Lester Aldridge Solicitors. Whether you go for the fireworks and the film scores on the Friday or the 90s singalong on the Saturday, it's a low-effort summer evening plan in the middle of the city, and with Meyrick Park so close to town, it's easy to build a night around.