A new work by the Pet Shop Boys exploring the life and work of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing is to get its world premiere at this year's Proms, the 120th edition of the world's biggest music festival.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will perform A Man from the Future at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of Prom 8 with the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Singers.
The Pet Shop Boys follow in a long line of non-classical musicians appearing at the Proms – Soft Machine may have been first in 1970. Singer-songwriters Paloma Faith and Rufus Wainwright are also to make their Proms debuts as part of this year's two-month season of 92 concerts.
The BBC Proms director, Roger Wright, said the vision for 2014 remained the same, "bringing the best possible classical music to the largest possible audience".
He added: "The size and scale of the Proms remains extraordinary. That is the reason that people refer to it as the world's largest and most significant music festival."
The Pet Shop Boys homage to Turing – whole played a crucial role in breaking the German Enigma code during the second world war– comes 60 years after he killed himself. Turing took his own life after he was prosecuted for his homosexuality. He was finally received a posthumous pardon for on Christmas Eve last year.
While Tennant and Lowe have performed snippets from the new work before, it will be heard in full for the first time on 23 July. The Prom will also feature new orchestral arrangements of five Pet Shop Boys' songs by the film composer Angelo Badalamenti.
Wright said: "It is something about the power of the Proms that significant musical figures such as Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright and Paloma Faith are all so excited about being able to appear. As are Berlin Philharmoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra."
There are numerous firsts in this year's festival, but one of the noisiest could well be the first CBeebies Prom. The Saturday morning concert – "the crucial thing is not making anything too long," said Wright – will feature presenters from the children's TV channel and will explore the sounds of the orchestra as well as short pieces including a commissioned three-minute work by the composer Barrie Bignold.
There will also be the first BBC Sport Prom, expect the theme to the Horse of the Year Show and, possibly, Match of the Day; and the first collaboration with the National Theatre in the shape of a War Horse Prom, featuring puppets from the play and music performed by the Military Wives Choir under the direction of choirmaster and broadcaster Gareth Malone.
Birthdays and anniversaries that will be marked include the 80th birthdays of two of Britain's most important living composers, Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Wright said global classical music would be at the heart of the 2014 Proms with more international orchestras performing than ever before – including for the first time from China, Greece, Iceland, Lapland, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea and Turkey.
Notable conductors include Marin Alsop, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink and, at 90, Sir Neville Marriner. The chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, will take charge of the Last Night for the first time.
This year's Proms will be especially poignant for Wright as they are his last. He steps down from his dual role in charge of Radio 3 and the Proms on 18 July before taking over as chief executive of the Aldeburgh music festival in September.
"I shall be shedding a tear during Elgar's The Kingdom for a whole number of reasons," he said, although he admitted looking forward to enjoying the Proms as he used to – "cook and then sit down and listen to Radio 3."
• The Proms are from 18 July to 13 September. Details: www.bbc.co.uk/proms
