Classical Spectacular at 30

It was back in the late 1980s that Raymond Gubbay hit on the idea for a concert of popular classical music at the Royal Albert Hall, not just with a top-flight orchestra and choir, but with lights, lasers and even fireworks – a ‘Classical Spectacular’. Raymond insisted that whatever else was played, the programme MUST include Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. The first concert was on 8 October 1989 and was an instant success, with annual concerts running for the next thirty years, twice a year with six shows each time. Three million people have been to the shows!

The Royal Choral Society was engaged for the first time on 1 November 1995 and has since performed in rep with another choir on alternating nights. The other choirs have come and gone, but since 1985 we have been there every year. While we may outwardly grumble that
we are not given enough to do on stage, I am sure that these concerts are our ‘guilty pleasure’: when else do we get ringside seats for all the best classical tunes? And who doesn’t like a bit of cannon and mortar effect!?

I met Raymond a year or so back and asked him how he got involved in the ‘business’. He said, “It’s simple. I went for a job interview with Victor Hochhauser [a musical promoter of some note] and he asked me two questions. He said, ‘Are you Jewish, and can you start on
Monday?’. I replied yes to both, and here I still am.”

Thirty years’ achievement was noted at the performance on 21 November 2019 with a speech by Craig Hassell, Chief Executive of the Royal Albert Hall, and the Gubbay organisation presented all the musicians with a very nice key ring memento and a glass of champagne in the interval. Raymond retired from the business a few years back, but we wish him and the organisation well, particularly in these difficult times for all involved in
concert promotion.

Richard Reeves, Summer 2020