Access all arias: opera stars to sing on palace balcony

Hundreds of thousands more are expected to be lining the Mall and filling the surrounding parks, where big screens will show the concert. Other performances will include Jessie J, singing her hit Domino and the duet I Gotta Feeling with Will.i.am.

Sir Cliff Richard and Kylie Minogue will perform medleys of their hits, while Robbie Williams will sing Mack the Knife and Let Me Entertain You. Sir Elton John’s offering will include I’m Still Standing, Your Song and Crocodile Rock, and Sir Paul McCartney will play Live and Let Die. Other veterans on stage will include Dame Shirley Bassey and Sir Tom Jones.

The Military Wives Choir will sing the national anthem and comedians including Lenny Henry will appear on stage to link the acts.

The balcony moment will come in the middle of the concert when Boe sings O Sole Mio and Fleming performs Un Bel di Vedremo from Madame Butterfly, before the pair perform the duet Somewhere, from West Side Story.

At the end of the concert the Queen, Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will come on stage. The Queen will then place a cut-glass “diamond” in a pod to trigger the flame for the jubilee beacon, the last in a chain of more than 4,000 across the Commonwealth.

In an attempt to surpass the spectacular scenes of the golden jubilee concert in 2002, images will be beamed onto the palace and fireworks will shoot from the sides of the roof in front of a crowd of 12,000 and a worldwide television audience of tens of millions.

The inclusion of the opera singers is a concession to classical music fans in a bill that is otherwise filled with pop and rock stars whose work spans the 60 years of the Queen’s reign.

In another first, the concert will take place outside the front gates of Buckingham Palace, with a temporary stadium built around the Victoria memorial. Previous shows have taken place in the palace gardens.

However, Gary Barlow, the former Take That singer who has directed the BBC concert, said the Queen had initially been worried the event would not win planning permission from Westminster council.

Barlow said: “The Queen gave me pretty much a free rein. She loved the idea . . . she thought it was ambitious. She didn’t know if we’d get permission — it’s public, not in the grounds — so we had to go to the council and police. The Queen didn’t have to get involved; it didn’t get that far. At the right point they wheeled me in — me in a room full of councillors. It was a bit of a day out for them.”

The BBC will broadcast the concert live and has sold further rights to ABC, the American broadcaster, which will be allowed to air highlights the following day. Ben Weston, the BBC’s executive editor for the concert, said: “We wanted to continue some of the traditions we started with Brian May, who played on the roof for the golden jubilee, so this time around the roof forms an integral part again.”

All of the acts, who are performing free of charge, have promised not to swear and they have all agreed to play only established hits rather than plug new songs. Their VIP treatment will extend to temporary dressing rooms set up in Green Park and they will be transported to the stage on golf buggies.

Many of the musicians on the bill are global stars, but the least well known singer — a 12-year-old girl from an impoverished town in Uganda — is likely to stand out from the crowd. Lydia Inzikuru, of the African Children’s Choir, was chosen by Barlow to perform on the track “Sing”, which is being sold to raise funds for the jubilee trust. Her voice was captured when Barlow toured the Commonwealth to record musicians.

Lydia, who comes from Arua, near the border with Congo, will perform the song’s opening solo. Speaking about the day she recorded the track for Barlow, she said: “Uncle Gary was so nice. It’s different from the songs I usually sing, which are more about praising God, but this was more of a pop song.

“I do like singing but when I grow up I would like to become a doctor, because we have hospitals in Uganda but they are not so nice, so I want to help out with the sick people.”

There is one question she would like to ask the Queen, she said: “If I can meet the Queen, I would like to ask her if she still likes to dance.”

Jubilee weekend timetable

Today

12.30pm Big Jubilee Lunch parties take place across the country
2pm The flotilla of more than 1,000 ships sets off from Chelsea pier for the Thames diamond jubilee pageant heading towards Tower Bridge
2.25pm Battersea Bridge
2.45pm Albert Bridge
3pm Chelsea Bridge
3.10pm Vauxhall Bridge
3.25pm Westminster Bridge
3.30pm Waterloo Bridge
3.40pm Blackfriars Bridge
3.45pm Southwark Bridge
3.50pm London Bridge
4pm Tower Bridge

Tomorrow

3pm 10,000 members of the public will attend a picnic at Buckingham Palace followed by a BBC concert around the Queen Victoria Memorial
7.30pm Performers including Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Gary Barlow, Kylie Minogue, Cliff Richard, Stevie Wonder and Jessie J will take part in the jubilee concert that will be broadcast live on television.
10pm Beacons will be lit around the country
10.30pm The Queen will light the national beacon from the concert stage.

Tuesday

10.30am Thanksgiving ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral
11.30am The Queen attends the reception at Mansion House hosted by lord and mayor of London The rest of the royal family attend a reception at Guildhall, hosted by the City of London
2.20pm Carriage procession down the Mall
3.30pm The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry appear on the palace balcony for the RAF flypast.