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In this week's podcast, Nicola Christie meets one of Britain's best-loved opera singers, the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, who stars in the Last Night of the Proms. We'll hear from the Times classical music editor Neil Fisher on works by Mahler and Turnage, and we hear two new versions of Elgar's much-loved Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 - the famous piece of music heard every year at the Last Night.

Talking about the roles and repertoire that have guided his career, Terfel says that his Last Night offerings "showcase the roles I've done". We'll hear clips from some of these great arias, including the Te Deum from Tosca - and Terfel even gives us a couple of lines from the introduction to the aria as a sneak preview.

He also takes a stroll down memory lane, recalling when he first knew he had a voice (at the age of four, singing along to Elvis) and how he took the brave decision to leave Wales and head for the "bright lights" of London to study at the Guildhall. There he developed his love of classical music and opera, while never losing his touch with pop and lighter classics. Indeed, pop and folk are Terfel's inspirations in his new album of English song, exceprts from which you can hear on the podcast as well.

Next, Neil Fisher on a barnstorming performance of Mahler's Sixth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, complete with the ominous hammer blows of fate, and the European premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Chicago Remains, a piece combining jazzy refrains with an epic (and distinctly) American feel.

Finally, the next generation of composers offer us two contrasting but equally invigorating takes on Elgar. You can hear more of these pieces, and all the new works commissioned for the Proms, at Promcast.co.uk

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