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The Proms – surely the greatest classical music festival in the world – returns this summer for its 131st season: a whopping 86 concerts, given over eight weeks and across six different cities. Glorious. But how to choose? What to prioritise? Who to see?

With general booking opening on the 17 May, we’ve broken the season down into some more easily digestible chunks. A musical tasting menu, if you like. Bon appétit.

Since its very beginning, the Proms has been an enterprising blend of the familiar and the adventurous, balancing the piquant flavours of so-called ‘novelties’ – and there are plenty this season – with a hearty selection of classics.

Anastasia Kobekina, who performs Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 on 10 September

First name on the menu, Beethoven makes his mark with the Third, Fifth, Seventh and Ninth symphonies: odds-on to score. Space cadet Holst returns with his Planets suite, as does ‘Waltz King’ Johann Strauss II, gliding down the beautiful blue Danube.

Feel the beat with anniversary composer Ravel’s Boléro, pass the pastoral with Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending or step into the New World with DvoÅ™ák’s Ninth Symphony.

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique • 22 July
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto • 24 July
Beethoven: Fifth Symphony • 25 July
Rachmaninov: Second Piano Concerto • 30 July
J. Strauss II: By the Beautiful Blue Danube • 2 August
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending • 5 August
DvoÅ™ák: ‘New World’ Symphony • 7 August
Holst: The Planets • 9 & 10 August
Debussy: La mer • 10 August
Ravel: Boléro • 13 August
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring • 13 August
J. S. Bach: The Art of Fugue • 23 August
Mahler: Fifth Symphony • 23 Aug
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro • 27 August
Saint-Saëns: ‘Organ’ Symphony • 28 August
Tchaikovsky: ‘Pathétique’ Symphony • 9 September
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 • 10 September

With half-price seats for anyone aged 18 or under, the Proms is surely your first stop for a musical day out with the family.

If you’ve got little ones, join CBeebies friends in the Bedtime Stories chair for an early-years orchestral adventure. Gateshead will also be waving the CBeebies flag this season, at the Glasshouse hosts a Wildlife Jamboree.

For the musically curious, there’s a chance to peek under the hood of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, as the Aurora Orchestra and a cast of actors present a dramatic exploration of the work before performing it in full … from memory. Or why not immerse yourself in the opulence and enchantment of Vienna’s Golden Age, as the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Concert Orchestra waltzes through some of the era’s most iconic tunes.

Meanwhile this season’s Relaxed Prom, featuring music from Star Wars and Holst’s The Planets, is designed to suit individuals or groups who feel more comfortable attending concerts in a relaxed environment.

CBeebies Prom: Wildlife Jamboree • 27 July, 13.30pm & 4.00pm, Gateshead
Viennese Whirl • 2 August
Relaxed Prom: The Planets • 10 August
Shostakovich’s Fifth by Heart • 16 & 17 August
CBeebies Prom: A Magical Bedtime Story • 25 August, 12.30pm & 3.30pm
African Symphony • 7 September, Bradford

The Great British love of singing is on full display this Proms season, championed by some of our finest songsters. Treat yourself to iconic choral symphonies by Mahler, Beethoven and Shostakovich. Or sample some less common choral fare, such as Delius’s extravagant, rapturous Mass of Life or Bliss’s The Beatitudes, his musical prayer for a ‘troubled world’.

Allan Clayton, soloist in Tom Coult’s Monologues for the Curious on 21 July

Or perhaps you’re hungry for some opera? This season also features concert and semi-stagings of five operatic masterpieces, from the merry shenanigans of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro to the murderous schemes of Duke Bluebeard and Lady Macbeth.

Also singing for his supper is one of today’s most accomplished English tenors, Allan Clayton, who premieres a brand-new work by Tom Coult.

Vaughan Williams: Sancta civitas • 18 July
Tom Coult: Monologues for the Curious • 21 July
Berio: Sinfonia • 1 August
Mahler: ‘Resurrection’ Symphony • 2 August
Bartók: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle’ • 6 August
Steve Reich: The Desert Music • 14 August
Shostakovich: ‘Babi Yar’ Symphony • 15 August
Delius: A Mass of Life • 18 August
R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten • 18 August
Puccini: Suor Angelica • 18 August
Beethoven: ‘Choral’ Symphony • 21 August
Górecki: ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ • 22 August
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro • 26 August
Handel: Alexander’s Feast • 30 August
Shostakovich: The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District • 1 September
Bliss: The Beatitudes • 7 September
Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles • 11 September

Ever since Soft Machine burst onto the Royal Albert Hall stage in 1970 the Proms has been a hub for cross-genre experimentation. Bands and artists from around the globe have been invited to perform, collaborating with orchestral musicians, pressing hard on that big blender button.

St. Vincent, who performs with the Jules Buckley Orchestra on 3 September

The mix of musical flavours on offer this season is no less adventurous. Representing the jazz world, US sensation Samara Joy teams up with ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Concert Orchestra for a symphonic exploration of the Great American Songbook, while Radio 2 presenter Trevor Nelson fronts a Prom that traces a path from spirituals through gospel to soul.

Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab mixes jazz, folk, pop and blues with a pinch of South Asian classical for her debut Prom with the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Symphony Orchestra. Meanwhile singer-songwriter St. Vincent joins forces with Proms regular Jules Buckley for a fresh take on her remarkable back catalogue.

Samara Joy • 19 July
’Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch • 24 July, Sunderland
Folk Songs of Black British Experience • 26 July
The Traitors • 26 July
Arooj Aftab and Ibrahim Maalouf • 29 July
Soul Revolution • 3 August
From Dark Till Dawn • 8 August
Anoushka Shankar: Chapters • 12 August
The Cavemen. • 12 August
Late Junction • 22 August, Bristol
St. Vincent at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Proms • 3 September
Classic Thriller Soundtracks • 4 September
Avi Avital: Between Worlds • 9 September

Here’s a little something for the night owls …

Anna Lapwood, who presents this summer’s all-night Prom

The Proms first went nocturnal in 1981, when an ensemble of Indian musicians performed through the night – until 7am! Cellist Anastasia Kobekina and organist Anna Lapwood are just two of the shining stars in this year’s intimate, all-night Prom, which also features the Pembroke College Chapel Choir and Norwegian ensemble Barokksolistene performing its famous Nordic Alehouse Session.

There are also seven Late Night concerts this season, including a wild romp from Nigerian highlife duo The Cavemen and a special anniversary celebration of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast, featuring Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. Sleeping’s cheating!

Boulez and Berio: 20th-Century Giants • 23 July
Robert Ames and Royal Northern Sinfonia • 25 July, Gateshead
Arvo Pärt at 90 • 31 July
From Dark Till Dawn • 8 August
100 Years of the Shipping Forecast • 8 August, Belfast
Late Junction • 22 August, Bristol
The Cavemen. • 12 August
Avi Avital: Between Worlds • 9 September

The first international ensemble to perform at the Proms was the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, under Gennady Rozhdestvensky, all the way back in 1966. Today, visits from overseas friends have become a vital part of what makes the Proms the Proms.

The Danish National Vocal Ensemble, which performs at St George’s Bristol on 23 August

An array of international orchestras take the stage this season. In the French corner: new-music champions Ensemble intercontemporain, period specialists Le Concert Spirituel and all-round symphonic sorcerers the Orchestre National de France. Representing Germany is the world’s oldest civic symphony orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, while our friends at Budapest Festival Orchestra present a Beethoven symphony with a Magyar accent.

Do the strings of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra bow in the opposite direction? Find out on 29 August.

Le Consort • 20 July
Ensemble intercontemporain • 23 July
Orchestre National de France • 23 July
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir • 31 July
Budapest Festival Orchestra • 6 August
Le Concert Spirituel • 17 August
Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Concert Choir • 21 August
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra • 23 & 24 August
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra • 26 August
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra • 29 August
Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus • 30 August
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra • 31 August
Chamber Orchestra of Europe • 6 September
Vienna Philharmonic • 8 & 9 September

Not based within easy reach of London? Not a problem. Since 2017 the Proms has been a multi-city festival.

Angeline Morrison, who performs Folk Songs of Black British Experience in Gateshead on 26 July

This season boasts two weekend-long residencies, at the Glasshouse in Gateshead and at the Bristol Beacon, as well as a special Late Night Prom in Belfast. And, for the first time, Proms concerts will be held in Sunderland and Bradford. Wherever you live, there’s a Prom with your name on it. Tuck in and enjoy.

’Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch • 24 July, Sunderland
Robert Ames and Royal Northern Sinfonia • 25 July, Gateshead
Folk Songs of Black British Experience • 26 July, Gateshead
Bach and Mendelssohn with Royal Northern Sinfonia • 26 July, Gateshead
CBeebies Prom: Wildlife Jamboree • 27 July, Gateshead
Sean Shibe and Friends • 27 July, Gateshead
100 Years of the Shipping Forecast • 8 August, Belfast
Paraorchestra and The Breath • 22 August, Bristol
Late Junction • 22 August, Bristol
Danish National Vocal Ensemble • 23 August, Bristol
Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Higgins • 23 August, Bristol
Under the Italian Sun • 24 August, Bristol
Angélique Kidjo: African Symphony • 7 September, Bradford