Now in its 44th year, Raymond Gubbay Limited presents
over 600 performances a year across a wide range of concerts, opera
and ballet at major venues in London, the UK and abroad. The annual
Christmas Festival features over 180 performances in London,
Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and major towns and cities
throughout the UK.
Raymond Gubbay CBE started presenting concerts in 1966 -
initially on his own with three or four singers and a pianist at
small halls and theatres around the country, and it quickly grew
from there. In 1968, Raymond began promoting in London, first on
South Bank (at the newly opened Queen Elizabeth Hall and later at
the Royal Festival Hall), and from the early 1970s at the Royal
Albert Hall. The opening of the Barbican in 1982 allowed him to
greatly expand the number of London concerts and he is widely
regarded as having greatly helped the Barbican to establish itself
at this difficult time. The company has since worked with all the
major venues across the UK, bringing Gubbay's 'popular classics' to
millions of people worldwide.
Classical Music
Spreading classical music to a wider audience has always been at
the heart of Raymond Gubbay productions. In 1972, Raymond Gubbay,
with the late Marcus Dods as Musical Director, founded the London
Concert Orchestra to play for the increasing number of Raymond
Gubbay shows in London concert halls. With successful relationships
with all four London symphony orchestras, the company is able to
offer a broad repertoire including big band, 40s nostalgia and
swing, hits from film and the musicals, Gershwin, and Rodgers &
Hammerstein, alongside classic operas and ballets, Last Night
of the Proms concerts and the traditional Christmas
carols.
Our flagship production, Classical Spectacular, now enjoying its
21st anniversary year, has enjoyed huge success with regular runs
of six performances at a time, almost unheard of in the field of
classical music. It continues to play to record audiences and has
now been seen by over 3 million people worldwide, enjoying
successful tours across Britain, Europe and Australia.
The company has worked with several well-known artists include
Pavarotti, Kiri Te Kanawa, James Galway, Victor Borge, Ray Charles,
Henry Mancini, Yehudi Menuhin. The London Concert Orchestra has
appeared with many distinguished artists including Sir James
Galway, Henry Krips, the Viennese maestro Willi Boskovsky, Ron
Goodwin, Katia Ricciarelli, Ian Wallace, Stuart Burrows, Valerie
Masterson, John Ogdon, Sherrill Milnes and Dennis O'Neill. The
Orchestra also tours internationally, including annual seasons at
the Kultur und Kongresszentrum in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Opera & Musicals
In December 1991 the company presented the Royal Opera
production of Turandot at Wembley Arena which proved a huge
success.
A very successful partnership with the Royal Albert Hall
resulted in a number of acclaimed in-the-round opera productions of
La Boheme and Showboat (directed by Francesca
Zambello), Carmen, Madam Butterfly, Tosca, and
Aida (directed by David Freeman), Cavalleria
Rusticana and Pagliacci and a new production of
The King And I.
Additional opera concerts and productions have included Bryn
Terfel's Bad Boys UK Tour, and Anna Netrebko and Dmitri
Hvorostovsky at the Royal Festival Hall. In May 2010, we
co-promoted Carmen, the first fully staged opera to be
presented at The O2 Arena in London.
West End productions include six seasons with the D'Oyly Carte
Opera company at the Savoy Theatre, including several seasons of
Gilbert and Sullivan, and Peter Pan, The Marriage of
Figaro and The Barber of Seville at the Savoy.
Circus Oz (Sadler's Wells), Ute Lemper (Queen's Theatre
and Savoy Theatre), and The Pirates of Penzance
(Savoy Theatre). At the Royal Festival Hall we have presented
seasons of Peter Pan, A Christmas Carol, Stanislavsky
Balle,t and Follies, On Your Toes and Circus Oz, and
a new production of Carmen Jones were co-presented with
the Southbank Centre. Further productions include The
Ratepayers Iolanthe (QEH and Phoenix Theatre) and The
Metropolitan Mikado (QEH and RFH). 2008 also saw an acclaimed
season of Gilbert and Sullivan at the Gielgud Theatre.
Ballet / Dance
From the very beginning Raymond has championed ballet and dance
to live orchestras, be that classical, modern, contemporary, tap,
latin or ballroom.
In 1998, a successful partnership was formed between Raymond
Gubbay, English National Ballet, and the Royal Albert Hall,
presenting the in-the-round productions of Romeo Juliet, Swan Lake,
Sleeping Beauty, and Strictly Gershwin. Other ballet productions
include Bejart Ballet at Sadlers Wells, the Bolshoi Ballet at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane; the Stanislavsky Ballet at the Royal
Festival Hall and national tours with the Russian National Ballet
and Siberian State Ballet companies. His Johann Strauss Gala, now
in its 35th year has become a firm audience favourite.
A three-year dance partnership with Sadler's Wells and Askonas
Holt heralded Spring Dance at the London Coliseum
(2008-2010) bringing some of the finest dance companies and artists
in the world to the London stage including Mark Morris, American
Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Carlos Acosta, Sylvie Guillem
& Russell Maliphant and Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Further
co-promotions with Sadlers Wells include Adam Cooper's Shall we
Dance, and Strictly stars Darren and Lilia's hit west-end show
Latin Fever.