The BBC Proms faced accusations of dumbing down yesterday after announcing that the 113th season will dedicate an evening to show tunes performed by Michael Ball.

To the dismay of some traditional Prommers, Ball will become the first West End singer to appear at the annual event, a highlight of the classical music calendar, with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on August 27.

Nicholas Kenyon, director of the Proms, said that the songs were yet to be confirmed but they could well include the greatest hits of Andrew Lloyd Webber, a composer who produces strong reactions.

Mr Kenyon defended Lord Lloyd-Webber, about whom the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen once said: “The poor guy’s never invented one note by himself.” Asked whether he felt that Lloyd Webber, the composer of Jesus Christ Superstar, was an equal of Beethoven, whose Ninth Symphony opens the Proms on July 13, the director hesitated then said: “Yes, at his best.”

Mr Kenyon, announcing his twelfth and final season as director, also spoke up for Ball, who has starred in hit West End shows from The Phantom of the Opera to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “I think he is one of the great, intelligent singing artists alive today. He deserves a place at the Proms just as much as performers inthe great classical tradition. Our job is to cover the whole waterfront.

“The real test here is the audience. We are responding to what audiences want to hear.”

Mr Kenyon said that the Proms could not credibly be accused of dumbing down because the commitment to quality was so visible.

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