The verdict on the Proms programme

The 2009 Proms programme was unveiled today, with organisers promising an eclectic programme blending the traditional with Bollywood, drum and bass, and ukuleles.

The 115th Proms will include the annual event's first ever Bollywood concert, as movie "playback" singer and Indian TV star Shaan brings a blast of colour and energy to the Royal Albert Hall with his band and a troupe of dancers.

His performance comes at the climax to an "Indian Voices" day on August 16, showcasing a range of music and dance from the subcontinent, including classical vocal pieces and folk tunes from around the country.

The season features 100 concerts, up from 88 last year and the first time the Proms have broken three figures.

The closing night will see open air "Prom in the Park" concerts at five venues around the country, including, for the first time, Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland.

The other venues are Hyde Park in London, Glasgow Green, Blue Hill park in Salford and Singleton Park in Swansea.

Along with all the old favourites - Rule Britannia, Jerusalem, Pomp and Circumstance March Number 1 - the last night at the Royal Albert Hall will feature A Grand Grand Overture by English composer Malcolm Arnold, which includes parts for three vacuum cleaners, a floor polisher and three rifles.

Drum and bass artist Goldie, who narrowly missed victory in last year's Maestro conducting competition on BBC Two, has been asked to compose a new piece for the BBC Concert Orchestra on the theme of evolution, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is another unusual highlight of the season, as they bring their unique and often hilarious reworkings of well-known pieces to the Albert Hall for a late-night Prom on August 18.

Jerusalem, The Ride of the Valkyries, an excerpt of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK will all be given the UOGB's idiosyncratic four-string treatment.

More traditional highlights of the season include the full cycle of 11 Stravinsky ballets, Stephen Hough performing all four Tchaikovsky piano concerti and anniversary celebrations of Purcell, Handel, Hadyn and Mendelssohn.

There are also Proms devoted to minimalist composers Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, for the first time.

Roger Wright, the director of the BBC Proms, said the season promised "two months of outstanding and inspiring music-making".

The £6 million subsidy the BBC pays to run the Proms represented good value for money, he said, and allowed the organisers to keep the price of the traditional "promenade" tickets at £5.

"There are always decisions every year about where the licence fee should go and nobody within (the Proms) takes it for granted," he said.

"The fact that they renewed that level of investment is a sign of the way the organisation regards it (the Proms).

"It provides many hours of broadcasting - it's not just about cultural patronage, it's a way of investing in programming."

All of the this year's Proms will be broadcast live on Radio 3, and 25 will be shown on TV on either BBC 2 or BBC 4.

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