Light music brings classics to the masses
By Carolyn
English conductor Anthony Inglis rehearses with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Australian Air Force Band for the Spectaculars at the Rod Laver Arena.
Photo: Ken Irwin
Five years ago, Raymond Gubbay applied for the job of head of the Royal Opera House, London. Given that he had spent 35 years promoting popular classics concerts and musical theatre, the application was not taken seriously by the music establishment.
He didn’t get the job, but Gubbay hardly went away and cried – he is laughing all the way to the bank, having invented the Classical Spectacular franchise, which has become an international success in 16 years. Two concerts at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena today will be among the 30 Classical Spectacular concerts Gubbay will produce this year in Europe and Australia.
The formula is simple. Take the world’s most popular classical pieces – from Nessun Dorma to the Swan Lake Finale, Blue Danube Waltz and the Can Can theme. Engage a 90-piece symphony orchestra, 100-piece choir, military band and soloists to perform them. Package it with synchronised lasers, lights and fireworks. Put them on stage in an arena packed with 10,000 people, and your bank manager will be popping champagne and whistling the 1812 Overture.
Gubbay says the concerts introduce classical music to mainstream audiences, who often go on to patronise the likes of the Royal Opera House.
Gubbay says rock concerts, with their dry ice, lasers and pyrotechnics, were the inspiration for the first Classical Spectacular at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October, 1989.
A capacity audience of 5000 turned up to hear the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Band of the Welsh Guards, and the London Choral Society perform a classical greatest hits.
Singing, humming and clapping along was encouraged. A second show was added, then two more. This year, Royal Albert Hall will host two, six-show Classical Spectacular seasons.
Manchester and Birmingham have been added to the calendar, as have Dublin, Scandinavia, Germany and Switzerland. There are two concerts in Sydney next week, and plans for other Australian capitals next year.
The Melbourne concerts feature the English conductor Anthony Inglis, the 90-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, 100-voice Melbourne Chorale, and the Royal Australian Air Force Band.
Local tenor Rosario La Spina and baritone Jose Carbo will sing arias such as La Donna e Mobile and Nessun Dorma.
The show does not have a chronology or theme. The conductor makes light banter with the audience, but information on the pieces and composers is confined to the program. Asked why the formula has been so popular, Gubbay says: “I think it’s just struck a popular chord with people.
“Classical music can be fun, and a pleasure to listen to. It’s just a great, fun night out. It’s not stuffy, it’s not starchy . . . we’re just saying, come and enjoy yourselves.”