Spectacular Classics opera Gala

Venue: 

Zorlu Centre, Istanbul

Date: 

Saturday, 21 December, 2013

Organisation: 

Raymond Gubbay TLD

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 andShowboat (directed by Francesca Zambello), Carmen, Madam Butterfly, Tosca, and Aida (directed by David Freeman), Cavalleria Rusticana andPagliacci 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 PanThe 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.