‘I play to middle England’

Raymond Gubbay is a hard man to avoid. Especially at Christmas. Last year Raymond Gubbay Ltd presented roughly 600 concerts, of which 180 were part of his annual Christmas Festival and he lived up to his festive catchphrase: ‘You want carols? We’ve got carols.’

Gubbay’s packaging of live classical music has been amazingly successful. He came up with the idea of Vivaldi by candlelight played by men in wigs. His regular Johann Strauss galas are a big hit, as is Strictly Gershwin, and his own-brand laser-lit Classical Spectaculars. The genial man with the Midas touch is famous, too, for his operas at the Albert Hall, where Madam Butterfly is about to return. It comes complete with a 60,000-litre pond, which turns the place into a giant Japanese garden centre.

First seen in 1998, this is its fifth outing at the majestic venue Gubbay adores. It’s also one of his rare opera productions to which critics (amusingly allergic to mass entertainment) have given unanimous approval. Two extra dates have already been added owing to popular demand, putting even more bums on the plush — Gubbay’s great uncontested talent. David Freeman’s production is staged in-the-round to 5,000 people and sung in English. Ticket prices range from £21.50 to £65, comparable to a West End musical. When you think that the heavily subsidised ENO will hit £90 for a top-whack ticket this year, you can see the appeal. 

Madam Butterfly is Gubbay’s passion, as he explains from his London offices (off Chancery Lane), which were once Charles Dickens’s residence. ‘It’s curiously intimate, there’s no long stand-up-and-sing bits that you get in Verdi. Much as I love Verdi, Puccini really knows how to move things on. In this show, Butterfly makes an entrance through the audience. The night of their wedding, candles are floating on the water and it looks just amazing.