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You'll see them standing usually on a raised podium at the front of the Royal Albert Hall stage, waving a baton or their hands at the performers and superb music happens. It's like watching magic and it can take your breath away.

A great conductor inspires fantastic performances; as you're listening the music comes to life. has been full to the brim with world-class conductors. Here are some snapshots of a few of these great conductors in mid-flow, producing some of the best performances we've had the pleasure of hearing at the Proms. Encore!

The 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra Principle Conductor Sakari Oramo kicked off proceedings in and returned twice more during the season to conduct and .

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Susanna Mälkki initially trained as a cellist before switching to conducting. We're very happy because we had the absolute treat of watching her conduct the 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra through Holst's epic The Planets, as well as works by Pierre Boulez and Luca Francesconi in .

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Grandson of a Soviet film music composer, son of a conductor, Vladimir Jurowski followed in his family's footsteps and studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. In he took charge of Shostakovich's dark and mighty Eighth Symphony, alongside a rare Schoenberg piano concerto and a Beethoven overture.

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John Wilson founded his own orchestra, surprisingly enough called the John Wilson Orchestra, who have performed two fantastic Proms this year celebrating musical greats - the 'Sultan of Swing' Frank Sinatra in and musicals composer-extraordinaire Leonard Bernstein in .

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When she was a child, Xian Zhang learned music with her mother on a piano built by her father. She is now the Music Director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Xian Zhang conducted the 麻豆社 National Orchestra of Wales in through a wide-ranging repertoire of Prokofiev, Qigang Chen and Rachmaninov.

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Proms pro Edward Gardner pulled out all the stops during the recent . He conducted the 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra in a vivid performance of Leoš Janá膷ek's Sinfonietta, full of big brass fanfares.

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Michael Tilson Thomas has been celebrating his 20th season as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, currently the longest-tenured music director at any major American orchestra! After almost a decade since last visiting the Proms, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Orchestra returned to perform two brilliant Proms covering music by Schoenberg, Cowell, Mahler, Ives, Bartók and Beethoven.

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Composer Eric Whitacre conducted a fantastic range of modern pieces in , including the European premieres of two works - his own called Deep Field inspired by images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and a piece by composer Jonathan Newman.

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Tadaaki Otaka conducted an evening of British composers in , including music by Walton, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Grace Williams. Tadaaki Otaka has been the chief and principal conductor of several orchestras over the years, including the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, 麻豆社 National Orchestra of Wales and Sapporo Symphony Orchestra.

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Keith Lockhart conducted a huge star line-up of vocalists, soloists, boys' and girls' choirs, two choruses and the 麻豆社 Concert Orchestra in with Saint-Saëns's devilish Danse macabre, a world premiere of a trumpet concerto by Guy Barker and Orff's monumental Carmina burana. No mean feat.

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Marin Alsop will soon be making her second appearance conducting Last Night of the Proms. Ahead of this exciting engagement she conducted a complete Brahms-fest in with the German composer's Academic Festival Overture, Alto Rhapsody, Triumphlied and First Symphony. We can't wait to see her again on !

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