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French Baroque giant Les Arts Florissants launches this season鈥檚 Proms Chamber Music concerts at Cadogan Hall with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, who died 250 years ago. His Pi猫ces de clavecin en concerts sees the composer at his most dramatically vivid and virtuosic, showcasing this ensemble in the first of its two concerts this season.

Baroque violinist Rachel Podger is joined by hand-picked musical friends to explore the contrasts and contradictions of C. P. E. 聽Bach, who celebrates his 300th anniversary this year. The composer鈥檚 Sonata in C minor in particular offers an extraordinary musical portrait of the most musically rebellious of the younger Bachs.

The first Greek orchestra ever to appear at the Proms, Armonia Atenea, and Artistic Director George Petrou, presents a programme with an appropriately classical flavour. Greek myths form the thread through a Baroque labyrinth of arias and overtures from French, German and Italian operas, including Gluck鈥檚 Orph茅e, Handel鈥檚 Arianna in Creta and Lully鈥檚 Phaeton.

Richard Strauss was just 20 when he composed his Suite for 13 wind instruments 鈥� and steeped in the musical tastes of his horn-player father, who revered Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart above all. Clarinettist Michael Collins and his ensemble London Winds pair Strauss鈥檚 youthful work with Mozart鈥檚 Serenade in C minor.

The Lapland Chamber Orchestra celebrates the 80th birthdays of two major British composers. Trumpeter H氓kan Hardenberger leads the way through the maze-like landscapes of Birtwistle鈥檚 trumpet concerto Endless Parade, while Davies is represented by his 1989 Sinfonia. Celebrations of C. P. E. Bach鈥檚 300th anniversary continue with the brooding textures of his Symphony in B minor, while all is languorous sunshine in Honegger鈥檚 Pastoral d鈥櫭﹖茅.

Before her solo appearance at the Last Night of the Proms, Dutch violinist Janine Jansen joins with pianist Itamar Golan and with conductor Sakari Oramo (making his Proms debut as a violinist). Two lyrical works by Prokofiev are paired with Schubert鈥檚 sublime Fantasie from almost a century earlier.

Repertoire to include songs by R. Strauss and Debussy.

Pianist Louis Schwizgebel and the dynamic Royal String Quartet are the key players in a concert that culminates in Richard Strauss's richly nostalgic Metamorphosen, heard in an intimate arrangement for string septet. Alongside it are Mahler's contemplative Piano Quartet movement and Mozart's elegantly poised Piano Sonata in D major, K311.

Celebrating his 80th birthday this year, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the greats of contemporary British music. A programme chosen by Davies himself ranges from the sleek chamber textures of A Mirror of Whitening Light to the music-drama of Revelation and Fall. London Sinfonietta Principal Cellist Timothy Gill is the soloist in Linguae ignis鈥檚 writhing plainchant melodies.

The young British pianist performs a programme with a dance theme pulsing through it. Chopin鈥檚 stately Ballade No. 1 gives way to the dizzying virtuosity of Ravel鈥檚 Valses nobles et sentimentales, before the waltz returns, transfigured, in Liszt鈥檚 Waltz from 鈥楩aust鈥�. Mompou鈥檚 Paisajes transports us to Barcelona, and Grosvenor also premieres a new work by Judith Weir.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle turns 80 this summer. The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group celebrates with a performance of three of the composer鈥檚 classic early works. Verses for Ensembles, Dinah and Nick鈥檚 Love Song and Meridian all explore intriguing and unfamiliar textures, but never neglect the ever-unfolding melody that is the core of all Birtwistle鈥檚 music.

This year鈥檚 focus on William Walton wouldn鈥檛 be complete without his witty, genre-bending 鈥榚ntertainment鈥� 贵补莽补诲别. Shostakovich is also seen here at his most whimsical. Arranged from the composer鈥檚 earlier film scores, the Four Waltzes range from the good-humoured 鈥楽pring Waltz鈥�, to the faux na茂f 鈥榃altz-Scherzo鈥� and the charmingly kitsch 鈥楤arrel Organ Waltz鈥�.