Sinatra and Cocker add to Proms' eclectic mix

Frank Sinatra will share an evening with Mozart and Stravinsky at this year's BBC Proms, while Jarvis Cocker will present the follow-on gig after Brahms and Schmidt. Welcome to the world's largest music festival, as wide-ranging as ever.

Every summer the BBC Proms gives us the opportunity to check the health of the nation's music - the scope of the programme of events, the composers who are in favour, which orchestras are on tour, and the size, age and diversity of the audiences.

Even with the post of director still at the recruitment stage, following the resignation of Roger Wright last year, the BBC Proms 2015 looks in very decent health. The 120th anniversary season, which was announced on Thursday by Edward Blakeman, director for the year, includes 92 concerts played by 46 orchestras. There will be 21 premieres and a further 11 first UK or London performances. For the 10th year running the price of standing tickets at the Royal Albert Hall has been held at £5.

There is no single, overarching theme, although a few smaller ones offer running threads. The anniversaries of two Nordic composers - Sibelius and Nielsen, both born in 1865 - will lend the summer a northern flavour.

There are several series for obsessives. Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes will bring to the Proms the complete Beethoven piano concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra that he has built up over four years on tour. Three pianists will come together to play all of Prokofiev's piano concertos with Valery Gergiev and the LSO in a single concert. Yo-Yo Ma will play all Bach's solo cello suites at another.

Other highlights include Fiddler on the Roof with Bryn Terfel; two Proms with the always stunning John Wilson Orchestra, celebrating Sinatra and Bernstein; Monteverdi's Orfeo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner; David Attenborough introducing a "Life Story" Prom; and Sherlock Holmes choosing the music for a Prom called "A Musical Mind".

Visiting orchestras include the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, and a pair of Proms from the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Semyon Bychkov and Simon Rattle.

For the first time regular Sunday matinees will present concerts specially tailored for all ages. All Proms will be relayed live on BBC Radio 3. There will be television broadcasts across the BBC's channels and increased coverage of Proms content online, including a new BBC Proms Guide app.

Expect the usual fireworks on the Last Night. The hugely popular "Proms in the Park", instigated in 2003, will again reach out to the four corners of the UK. In the Royal Albert Hall, soprano Danielle de Niese and star tenor Jonas Kaufmann will join in duet. And, finally, Marin Alsop, who made history in 2013 as the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, returns for an encore - well deserved.

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