American version of The Proms?

You Brits have it good. Here in the US, where pop runs rampant, classical music would have a hard time forming something on the scale of the Proms. At least that's what I would think. But I'm curious, is there any classical concert festival that could be considered the American Proms?

There's various festivals around the nation. But because they're not consolidated like The Proms hundreds of thousands don't gather for classical music. Keep in mind that The Proms also has a major tradition part to it. They've been around for a long time and has a lot of tradition regarding the hall, the orchestra, and the concerts themselves, i.e. the Last Night concert being completely patriotic music.

Well, don't think that pop and rock don't command the scene here either. We have to fend off frequent attacks from figures trying to show how 'in' they are by calling us elitist just for expecting people just to be quiet whilst the orchestra plays. Yet at the Proms you can enjoy the world's greatest musicians for £5, a fraction of what pop and rock concerts cost.

The Proms would not be what it was if it were started up today or even 30 years ago. Firstly, it is run and funded by the BBC (which obviously makes it a huge waste of license payers' money - they should be spending it on trashy comedies and celebrity drivel!) who can ensure massive publicity and (frequent) TV and (comprehensive) radio broadcasting of the festival. The BBC has five orchestras and two choirs which means that for most of the concerts, performers are readily available. Secondly, it has been around for so long that it is too big to ignore and has acquired a huge amount of tradition and status. This means it can attract the best musicians in the world and as a result sell out most of the concerts even though a wide variety of music is being presented. Thirdly it's in London rather than a small provincial town or the country. Transport access is easy and the Albert Hall/Queens Hall/chamber music venues are more than big enough for audiences as well as being iconic.

What is boils down to is longevity. The Proms are like London's double-decker buses: they would be difficult to get together today if the idea was new, but because they are so established they self-perpetuate and can flourish. Because of the pricing and range of music, nobody is excluded - unless you want to show how cool you are by hating classical music.

There's no reason why a similar event couldn't have been established in the USA - for one the amount of available patriotic music is about the same - but the time for doing so has passed.

This is quite an interesting piece on Proms funding: http://www.overgrownpath.com/2009/08/what-price-bbc-proms.html