In this much-anticipated autobiography, Raymond Gubbay brings to life his extraordinary fifty-year career as one of the most experienced and well-connected impresarios in British theatre and entertainment. With a provenance rich in history and talent, he retraces the musical legacy of his family, growing up as Jewish in 1950s post-war London with the challenges he faced while embarking on his theatrical journey after a few failed attempts at corporate conformity. Beginning his career at the Royal Albert Hall, his introduction to the entertainment industry commenced under the guidance of the late Victor Hochhauser Britain s foremost promoter of Russian ballet and classical music. Passionate and enigmatic, this memoir delves right into the heart of 1960s performing arts, with Gubbay absorbingly recounting both the stress and excitement that came with marshalling three coach loads of Russian performers around the country at a time of conflicting traditions, theatrical decline, amid Soviet tensions and this was only the beginning. Working alongside some of the most prestigious classical and popular artists of our time from Yehudi Menuhin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti and the English National Ballet to Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Andrew Lloyd-Webber Gubbay has witnessed and played a hand in promoting and producing some of the most iconic performances of opera, ballet and classical music ever staged in some of the largest theatres in Britain not least of all the Barbican, Bristol Hippodrome, The London Palladium and of course the Royal Albert Hall. Lowering the Tone is rich with febrile stories of showbusiness and the behind-the scenes business of the great theatrical venues, with appearances by Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher, Princes Diana and a wealth of other household and international names. This is a story of achievement, imagination and a desire to bring happiness and entertainment to generations of theatre-goers.
