From Mozart's Cosi fan tutte to massed voices of the North East in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius to How To Train Your Dragon 2: Royal Northern Sinfonia & The Glasshouse's 2026/27 season

How To Train Your Dragon 2

The Glasshouse in Gateshead and Royal Northern Sinfonia have announced their 2026/27 season and a substantial one it is too. Royal Northern Sinfonia is led by the impressive partnership of music director Dinis Sousa, artistic partner Maria Włoszczowska, principal guest conductor Nil Venditti and associate conductor Ellie Slorach.

They kick of with a rare foray into opera by the orchestra and the launch of a multi-year exploration of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas led by Dinis Sousa. First off, in September 2026 is Cosi fan tutte with Christina Gansch, Alexandra Oomens, Jonas Hacker, Cody Quattlebaum, Rebecca Evans and Neil Davies.  Definitely well worth a trip to Gateshead for!

Dinis Sousa's other concerts with the orchestra include Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto No. 1 with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a programme of 20th-century American composer - Cage, Ives, Crumb and Gloria Coates, Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Monteverdi Choir and soloists including Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist.

Hundreds of non-professional singers from across the North East will share the stage with the orchestra and chorus for the third time in the Share the Stage series of major events, when Sousa conducts  Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with a terrific cast, Benjamin Hulett, Sarah Connolly and Roderick Williams.

Beethoven is something of a focus, not only Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust, but all the piano concertos and the Choral Fantasy spread over three concerts with pianists Paul Lewis, Alice Sarah Ott, Elizabeth Brauss, Stephen Hough, Jonathan Biss and Elizabeth Leonskaja. And the season ends with Sousa conducting Symphony No. 9 with soloists  Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Alice Coote, Laurence Kilsby, Matthew Rose, alongside a new commission from Kristine Tjøgersen.

Besides the Beethoven Piano Concerto weekend, there are two other festival weekends. Reich at 90, on the composer’s birthday weekend in October is curated by Colin Currie and brings together Bryce Dessner, author and broadcaster Tom Service and all-star contemporary ensemble Colin Currie Group to celebrate the composer whose rhythmic imagination reshaped late-20th-century music. And in May, a Sci-Fi weekend marks two major milestones: 50 years since Star Wars: A New Hope and the centenary of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Holst’s The Planets, the full Metropolis score live, and two Star Wars in Concert performances promise to draw audiences far beyond the classical core. 

Nil Venditti conducts Beethoven's Symphony No. 3; Britten's Violin Concerto with Maria Włoszczowska as soloist plus Grace Williams and Dvorak; 

Smaller scale events in Sage Two not only include Sousa's American concert, but Maria Włoszczowska leading Kurtag's Kafka Fragments and Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King paired with his Missa super l’homme armé  conducted by James Weeks.

And January brings an international spotlight through the ECHO Rising Stars Festival, a full day celebration presented in partnership with the European Concert Hall Organisation. Four exceptional young artists – violinist Ava Bahari, soprano Camila Mandillo, cellist Petar Pejčić and the Javus Quartett – take over the building with concerts, pop-up performances and artist conversations.  

One of the concerts that appeals to most, however, is Ellie Slorach conducting the orchestra for How to Train Your Dragon 2 in concert! 

Full details from The Glasshouse's website. 

From A Queer Holiday Extravaganza to Messiah to Corelli & Locatelli on tour: Christmas with Royal Northern Sinfonia

A Christmas Gaiety 2022: Peaches Christmas and Edwin Outwater

The Royal Northern Sinfonia is certainly going all out for Christmas in the season at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music as well as on tour. TV presenter Matt Baker joins the Orchestra, plus Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia, Voices of the River’s Edge with conductor Ellie Slorach for Christmas at the Glasshouse, whilst conductor Edwin Outwater, drag icons Peaches Christ and Baga Chipz, drag musical phenomenon Le Gateau Chocolat, musical theatre star Kellis Ellis and soprano Rebecca Bottone join the orchestra for Christmas Gaiety - A Queer Holiday Extravaganza! 

Still in the more popular vein, Stephen Bell will be directing the Orchestra in Christmas from the Musicals. Then John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London are joined by vocalist Matt Ford for A Christmas Songbook, and another guest artist will be saxophonist Jess Gillam and her ensemble for their Christmas concert.

 More traditional fare features in the Winter Tour for brass and percussion players from the Orchestra promising a musical sleigh ride through Newcastle, Hexham and Heaton directed by Tim Burke. Still on tour, the Orchestra will be in Alnwick, Musselburgh, Sunderland, Berwick, Newcastle and Carlisle, with a Baroque programme featuring Corelli's Christmas Concerto (of course), alongside Leclair, Locatelli,  Torelli and Purcell's The Fairy Queen. Whilst in Kendal, Cullercoats, Redcar, Bishop Auckland, Hartlepool and Hexham, the programme moves from Dowland and Handel to Marais and Lully.

And of course Christmas means Handel's Messiah, and Kristian Bezuidenhout will be directing the Orchestra and Chorus. 

There is big screen fun with Home Alone with a live score from the Orchestra, along with the Glasshouse choir for 18 – 35-year-olds, Voices of the River’s Edge, completes the wonder by singing the main theme Somewhere in My Memory. And what would Christmas be without The Snowman. The classic film with Howard Blake's music performed live by the Orchestra features with Ellie Slorach conducting and the programme is completed by We're going on a bear hunt with a terrific score by Stuart Hancock.

The fun continues after Christmas with an evening of music from Bond films and of course the 'traditional' Viennese classics.

Full details from the Glasshouse's website. 

Music connects all of us, and people can create on all levels: RNS Moves to make its London debut

RNS Moves

RNS Moves, the ensemble made up of professional disabled musicians and non-disabled members of Royal Northern Sinfonia, will make its London debut on 21 September at Kings Place, performing a programme that brings together renaissance choral music, contemporary minimalism and modern experimental.

Improvisation and experimentation lie at the heart of the ensemble, and their performance at Kings Place will see them pair works by Caroline Shaw, Philip Glass, James MacMillan, Julius Eastman and Terry Riley with Tallis and Purcell.

Clarence Adoo MBE co-founded the ensemble after a life-altering car accident left him paralysed from the neck down, meaning he could no longer hold his position as trumpeter in Royal Northern Sinfonia.  Following the accident, German composer-come-inventor Rolf Gehlhaar was asked to create a bespoke instrument for Adoo so that he could continue to play music. The result was the Headspace - an innovative MIDI wind instrument controlled by breath and head movements. Alongside the Headspace, accessible instruments within the ensemble also include the LinnStrument  - a touch based expressive MIDI controller - played by Charlotte Bott. 

The ensemble works hard to promote that it doesn’t matter if someone has a disability – music connects all of us, and people can create on all levels. It meets at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead several times a year to collaborate and create. They invite inspiring and pioneering artists to join them, to bring new perspectives,

The 25/26 season will also see RNS Moves' collaboration with Candoco Dance Company and a new partnership at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. 

Further information from the Glasshouse website.

Blossoming: santoor virtuoso Eeshar Singh in collaboration with Royal Northern Sinfonia at The Glasshouse, Gateshead

Eeshar Singh & Royal Northern Sinfonia

As part of GemArts' Masala Festival at The Glasshouse in Gateshead on 18 July 2025, santoor virtuoso Eeshar Singh is collaborating with Royal Northern Sinfonia on Blossoming, a live performance that Indian classical instrumentation with Western orchestration and neoclassical textures.

Musicians from Royal Northern Sinfonia will join Eeshar Singh (santoor), Jeevan Singh (percussion) and multi-instrumentalist Sirrjan Singh for an evening that promises to be an immersive journey of music and storytelling inspired by ancient mythology and Indic folklore. The work is based on Eeshar Singh's EP, Blossoming which came out last year. The Indian santoor is a hammered dulcimer.

Eeshar Singh has also written the score for the Suraj Podcast, a chapter by chapter summary in English of the most famed pre-colonial Sikh historical text The Suraj Prakash, where Singh's work blends modern sound design elements with traditional Raag structures and instrumentation to create a captivating audio experience that merges his passion for music with his love for storytelling,

Full details from The Glasshouse website.

Hull Urban Opera gets up close & personal, Emma Wheeler & Anna Appleby bring together two musical worlds: Tête à Tête takes the opera festival to Newcastle

This year Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival not only returns for its 18th edition, but is expanding and there with performances in Newcastle and London. Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival is at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle on 27 and 28 June, and then moves to the Cockpit in London from 22 September to 5 October.

The Newcastle performances build on Tête à Tête's collaborations with North East artists and the Royal Northern Sinfonia developed over several years. Tête à Tête is partnering with North Tyneside Music Education Hub to deliver QUEST 2025—a fantasy-inspired opera project running over Summer & Autumn 2025 co-created with young people in North Shields, rooted in community storytelling and bold new music-making, culminating in performances on Sunday 19 October at The Exchange 1856 2025. QUEST brings together school pupils, community chorus members, professional singers, and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

At Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle, Hull Urban Opera will be bringing their show It must have been Tuesday. Created by the company's artistic director, Russell Plows as a preparation for performers in an up-close, immersive style of performance, the aim of the show is to remove all potential barriers to communica7on (no set, costume, character or libretto - the words are the singers’ own) resulting in a warm, direct delivery of often sensitive ideas conveyed through both speech and singing. The stories were first presented in Hull in 2021, and in Newcastle the true stories at this performance are written and performed by Neil Balfour and Joanna Gamble accompanied by Ellie Gaynard Evans on violin with music by Russell Plows.

Ghost is built on Emma Wheeler and Anna Appleby’s life experience as queer, neurodivergent women – stories that have not historically been told in opera, tinged with comedy, trauma, and love. This opera is the coming-together of two musical worlds, from Appleby’s Glyndebourne and BBC Philharmonic opera composition history and Emma Wheeler’s rich mezzo vocals, to Norrisette and Rosé Gold’s grungy underground electronica and DIY drag fashion extravagance. Prepare for a ghost story like no other!

Other works include the intriguing Rossini and the Overture, based around the premise of a man impersonating Rossini and failing to finish the opera! This is a work-in-progress sharing as the team test out their new approach to opera. And there are also four festival shorts, operatic extracts and experiments, from Newcastle and the surrounding area.

Full details from the festival website.

Ellie Slorach appointed to the new role of Associate Conductor with the Royal Northern Sinfonia

Fantasy, Myths and Legends prom - Ellie Slorach, Royal Northern Sinfonia - The Glasshouse (Photo: TyneSight Photographic Services))

Ellie Slorach has been appointed to the new role of Associate Conductor with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, kicking off an exciting new chapter in the orchestra’s work, including concerts aimed at schools and families across Gateshead and the wider North East. 

Her first project in her new role is BBC Ten Pieces in Concert with Royal Northern Sinfonia and presenter YolanDa Brown on 4 March 2025. This event invites young people to step into a musical time machine at The Glasshouse, discovering pieces that inspire hope, break boundaries, and make people want to dance. Her family-friendly events with the orchestra include performances in October of the film How to Train Your Dragon with live orchestral music and in December she will also reprise her conducting roles in Christmas at the Glasshouse and The Snowman in Concert.

Ellie Slorach is the Founder and Artistic Director of Kantos Chamber Choir, which has an artistic partnership with Manchester Camerata. She is also Engagement Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and she will conduct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the first concert performances of Jonathan Dove's new opera Uprising in Saffron Walden, Glasgow and Edinburgh in collaboration with Glyndebourne [see our article]. Highlights of the previous season included her debut at the BBC Proms at The Glasshouse Gateshead with the Royal Northern Sinfonia as well as debuts with Matthew Bourne’s ballet production of Edward Scissorhands at Sadler’s Wells.

Further details from the Glasshouse's website.

Soprano Barbara Frittoli, pianist Caroline Dowdle & actor James Garnon in public masterclass at Marchmont House with Samling Artist Programme

Samling Masterclass at Marchmont House (Photo: Mark Pinder)

On Saturday 30 November 2024, Italian soprano Barbara Frittoli, pianist Caroline Dowdle and actor James Garnon will guide eight rising stars from the Samling Artist Programme through a lively mixture of song and opera in a public masterclass at Marchmont House, a Palladian house in Berwickshire, Scotland.

This masterclass comes at the end of the Samling Artist Programme, an intensive weeklong residency for early-career singers and pianists and is followed by performance and professional development opportunities as participants join a global family of over 400 artists. Over the course of their week together, the Samling Artists and their leaders build up a unique trust and rapport, making this final public event a masterclass like no other

The ticket price includes tea and homemade cakes with the artists and leaders during the interval in the beautiful public rooms at Marchmont House and a bus transfer from Berwick-upon-Tweed station is available for an additional charge.

Full details from the Samling Institute's website.

Share the Stage sees Royal Northern Sinfonia & Chorus perform Tippett's A Child of Our Time with local amateur musicians from across the North East

People's Requiem - Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Glasshouse, 2021

On Sunday 24 November 2024, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Chorus will be sharing the stage with local amateur musicians from across the North East to perform Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead. Conducted by Dinis Sousa, the performance will also feature soloists soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, tenor Nicky Spence and bass-baritone Sir Willard White. 

Over 300 vocalists and musicians will squeeze onto the stage. Two thirds of these being passionate locals between the ages of 18 and 85. The event will mark one of the largest musical gatherings ever on the Sage One stage, bringing together amateur musicians and seasoned professionals from across the region and beyond. 

Share the Stage celebrates community through the joy of performing music together. Singers and instrumentalists of all levels and abilities from the North East are currently rehearsing to become one of the biggest performing groups the region will have ever seen, building on a previous landmark occasion, The People’s Requiem, in November 2020.

The singers have been supported through a series of weekly rehearsals by the friendly, fantastic Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia and their Director Tim Burke. Throughout choral rehearsals there have been two rehearsal groups: one for confident sheet-music readers and one for those who learn by ear. Share the Stage’s focus on enjoyment and enthusiasm has encouraged a wide variety of performers to take part.

A Child of Our Time also marks the launch of The Glasshouse’s 20th birthday year, kicking off a season of celebrations that will unfold over the next 12 months and culminate in the 21st anniversary in December 2025. Highlights will include a new Share the Stage project, a digital artist-in-residence programme, and a young people’s celebratory event.

Dinis Sousa said, “This project is a celebration of music as a central part of our community. As with our Verdi Requiem in 2021, we want people to have the time and space to really get inside the music, with support from our wonderful orchestra and chorus, as we prepare for a monumental performance at The Glasshouse. Making music together, in such a welcoming but stretching environment can be a life-affirming experience, and I know that   we will all treasure these weeks we spend together bringing “A Child of Our Time” to life.” 

Full details from the Glasshouse's website.

Celebrating 20 years at The Glasshouse, Royal Northern Sinfonia launches a new season that also celebrates principal conductor Dinis Sousa's second three-year term

Maria Włoszczowska & Dinis Sousa - Royal Northern Sinfonia (Photo: Thomas Jackson / Tynesight Photograph)

This Autumn marks 20 years since the Royal Northern Sinfonia moved into its present home, at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music (formerly Sage Gateshead) and Autumn also marks the second three-year term of principal conductor Dinis Sousa, and a new position of artistic partner for violinist Maria Włoszczowska, and they will be joined by a new appointment, principal guest conductor Nil Venditti.

The sinfonia's new season, recently announced, features 50 concerts with classical series across the region – at their home at The Glasshouse, and in Carlisle, Kendal, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland. These five series have been grown substantially by Sousa and Włoszczowska, reaching thousands of new audience members.

This new season includes the second major participation project under the umbrella Share the Stage, an initiative led by Sousa offering people who love making music the opportunity to perform with the orchestra and chorus on the world-renowned stage of Sage One alongside some of the world’s greatest singers. This time around the focus is Tippett’s deeply moving A Child of Our Time with soloists Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Sarah Connolly, Nicky Spence and Willard White.

Two major anniversaries are celebrated during the season, those of Ravel and Schoenberg. Ravel’s 150th is celebrated through his symphonic music with a concert by the BBC Philharmonic with pianist Bertrand Chamayou, his works for chamber forces including Mother Goose from Royal Northern Sinfonia and an ensemble concert led by artistic partner Maria Włoszczowska plus a new music and digital collaboration with the new media arts collective Mediale. Attention turns to Schoenberg for two concerts, including Pierrot Lunaire (with soprano Claire Booth) and Verklärte Nacht, both directed by Włoszczowska.

Dinis Sousa opens the season with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, plus Mendelssohn's complete music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. And there is more Mozart, along with Bach, when pianist David Fray directs the sinfonia from the keyboard.

Sousa's other concerts with the sinfonia during the season include Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Stephen Hough plus Unsuk Chin and Mozart, Handel's Messiah with Amanda Forsythe, Reginald Mobley, Guy Cutting and John Chest, Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with Víkingur Ólafsson plus Kajia Saariaho and Bartok, and Benjamin Grosvenor in Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 plus Grażyna Bacewicz and Tchaikovsky. And in the smaller Sage Two, Sousa directs a programme of John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Pierre Boulez and Ligeti's Chamber Concerto.

Other visitors during the season include John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London with Sheku Kanneh-Mason; singers Veronique Gens and Roderick Williams,  the BBC Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, The Hallé and The Philip Glass Ensemble, Opera North in a concert performance of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, and conductors Sofi Jeannin and Ricardo Minasi. Soprano / composer Heloise Werner will be directing and performing The Cuckoo's Hour, a programme that pairs her own music with that of Colin Alexander, Freya Waley-Cohen, John Lely, Oliver Leith and Nico Muhly.

In the coming weeks they will also announce a new series for young people and their families, alongside concerts of orchestral music from video games, soundtracks, films and tv.

Further details from the Royal Northern Sinfonia website.

Lost and Found: Samling Institute for Young Artists' Summer concert at the Glasshouse, Gateshead

The Samling Institute's Lost and Found at the Glasshouse, Gateshead on 12 July 2024, will provide an opportunity to hear the current crop of Samling Academy Singers in action, performing music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter, Gabriel Fauré, Leonard Bernstein and Flanders and Swann in a semi-staged evening of song, opera and poetry. We are promised exciting discoveries of new love, nostalgia for the places we can never return to and the everyday drama of misplaced objects.

Samling Artists soprano Miranda Wright and pianist Leo Nicholson will direct the programme and Leo will accompany the performance.

takes its name from an old Norse word meaning ‘gathering’ or ‘collective’. Since 1996 they have transformed the lives of hundreds of talented young musicians through coaching programmes, performance opportunities and ongoing support. From their home in the North East of England, they help young people who live or study in the region to find and develop their talent for classical singing through Samling Academy. Singers aged 14–21 explore all aspects of classical singing and develop wider performance skills, led by expert vocal coaches, song pianists, actors and movement specialists.

Full details from the Samling Institute's website.

Elegant. Vivid. Bring Tissues: Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri at the Glasshouse

Dinis Sousa conducting the Royal Northern Sinfonia

Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri (Paradise and the Peri) is one of those works that you might have heard of, but never heard live. Sir Simon Rattle, who clearly has a fondness for the piece, conducted it at the 2023 BBC Proms, but it remains rather a rarity. Partly because it is difficult to pin down; part oratorio and part opera, a choral and orchestral cycle that seems to unfold in continuous song. 

Now there is a chance to catch the work live in Gateshead, when Dinis Sousa conducts the Royal Northern Sinfonia in Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri at The Glasshouse on 14 April 2024 with the Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia and a cast of soloists including Louise Alder.

So what is it about?

Dinis Sousa explains, the story "follows a Persian mythological creature called Peri, who is sent away from Paradise. If she wants to be allowed to come back she has to find a present for the gods. So she travels across the world – Egypt, Syria, India – and the music paints some of these places really evocatively.  It’s a journey of redemption so it has many reflective and tender moments, as well as some incredibly dramatic ones (there are even battle scenes). The music flows so gracefully with some beautiful harmonies and melodies taking unexpected turns. I absolutely love it."

Or as the Glasshouse website describes it 'Elegant. Vivid. Bring Tissues'

Schumann wrote it in 1843 and based the story on a tale from Thomas Moore's Lallah Rookh. The work was premiered in Leipzig in 1843 with the composer conducting and went on to have well-received performances in Dresden and Berlin, even Richard Wagner praised it!

Full details from the Glasshouse's website.

New music for non-traditional inclusive ensembles: RNS Moves & National Open Youth Orchestra in dynamic new pieces

RNS Moves (Photo: Tynesight Photographic)

New music for non-traditional inclusive ensembles: the Royal Northern Sinfonia's RNS Moves is premiering a piece by Héloïse Werner at The Glasshouse, Gateshead, whilst the National Open Youth Orchestra is presenting a programme of new music at the Barbican's Milton Court. Both ensembles feature disabled and non-disabled musicians.

RNS Moves, the inclusive ensemble featuring disabled musicians and non-disabled members of Royal Northern Sinfonia will perform a new commission from Héloïse Werner, Wander, on Sunday 17 March at The Glasshouse, Gateshead. Some of the instruments were completely new to Héloïse Werner: the Headspace, played by RNS Moves founder Clarence Adoo and the robo-recorder, invented and played by Liza Bec. Werner worked closely with them to integrate the distinctive instruments into the music. 

Werner's new piece is inspired by city life, evoking the sensation of strolling through a bustling landscape and being drawn to buskers using a mixture of field recordings and solo parts played live by the players. The concert will include more of Werner's pieces, plus Liza Bec’s  Space Dinosaur Music and music from Purcell and Barbara Strozzi to Stockhausen and Nina Simone. 

Full details from The Glasshouse website.

Members of the National Open Youth Orchestra

The National Open Youth Orchestra, world’s first disabled-led national youth ensemble, is returning to the Barbican's Milton Court Concert Hall on 21 April 2024 for Feel the Music, a relaxed performance welcoming a diverse audience inclusive of disabled and neuro-divergent concert goers and families to a joyous afternoon of music. 

Twenty-four of the orchestra's young disabled and non-disabled musicians will perform a lively programme on acoustic, electronic, and accessible instruments. Among more traditional instruments, the musicians also perform on some instruments not often found in orchestras, such as electric guitars, accordions, or on accessible instruments that may be completely new to audiences - from the Seaboard RISE to the ClarionTM, which some performers play using head movements.

The concert includes new music by Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, Ben Lunn, Anna Meredith and Michael Betteridge. Ben Lunn's piece pays homage to the virtuoso pianist, Paul Wittgenstein, who, after losing his right arm in the First World War continued to play left-handed.

Following the London concert, the orchestra will be touring to Bristol, Poole and Birmingham

Full details from the Barbican website.

Total immersion: the Glasshouse's Big Bruckner Weekend features his final three symphonies, a mass, motets & more

Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia (Photo: Mark Savage)

Next year is the 200th anniversary of Bruckner's birth, so expect plenty of celebrations of the composer's music, though the sheer scale of his symphonies makes anything like completeness difficult. The Glasshouse in Gateshead is having a Big Bruckner Weekend from 1 to 3 March 2024 offering audiences the opportunity to immerse themselves in final three symphonies, his motets, one of his masses and even his String Quintet.

Across the weekend, Domingo Hindoyan conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No.7, Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé perform Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 and Alpesh Chauhan conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner's unfinished Symphony No. 9. 

Thomas Zehetmair conducts the Royal Northern Sinfonia & chorus in Bruckner's Mass No. 3 with soloists Elizabeth Watts, Hannah Hipp, Thomas Atkins and Mark Stone, whilst throughout the weekend the chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia will be performing Bruckner's motets, conducted by Timothy Burke, and string principals of Royal Northern Sinfonia perform Bruckner’s String Quintet.

Full details from the Glasshouse website.

'Music lives and grows here' - a new name for Sage Gateshead, but creating music goes on in Gateshead and beyond

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music (Photo: Thomas Jackson Tynesight Photography)

The Sage Gateshead has changed its name. The search for the new name, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, arose not because of some daft idea of re-branding but simply because it was announced that an arena and conference centre would be built next door and would be called The Sage! The new name is inspired by the idea that 'Music lives and grows here'. The new identity was created with Manchester-based design team Music. Their process kicked off with conversations with people from across the North East.

Across last weekend, 16-17 September, The Glasshouse threw open its doors for two days of live music, building tours and music-making opportunities as part of the Open House weekend. The Glasshouse is also launching a new Music Pass, planting a seed to support future music lovers. For every baby born in the North East and Cumbria this year the charity will give families a voucher to be spent on their concerts, gigs, or classes. 

The centre is also taking live music to other parts of the region. The Glasshouse and the Royal Northern Sinfonia plan a season of nine concerts in Middlesbrough Town Hall and return to Carlisle for the first time since 2018 with a season of seven concerts.

The season in Middlesbrough opens with Jaume Santonja conducting Jörg Widmann, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with cellist Bruno Philippe, and other highlights include Dinis Sousa conducting Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Sunwook Kim, and Peter Whelan conducting Messiah with the chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia celebrating its 50th birthday, along with soloists Nardus Williams, Jess Dandy, Laurence Kilsby and Ashley Riches.

The Carlisle season kicks of with Eduardo Strausser conducting Beethoven and Mozart, then Dinis Sousa conducts a music by Robert and Clara Schumann including pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason in Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

Full details from The Glasshouse's website.

Dame Sarah Connolly and the Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead and Wigmore Hall

Dame Sarah Connolly with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gatesheada

Dame Sarah Connolly is one of the Royal Northern Sinfonia's (RNS) Artists in Focus this season (the other is Benjamin Grosvenor). Connolly, who is something of a local girl having been born in Middlesbrough and who grew up near Darlington, started the season with a concert celebrating the native return of the Lindisfarne Gospels [you can see the film made on the Sage Gateshead website].

This week Connolly rejoins the RNS for a pair of concerts, one in London and one at Sage Gateshead. On Thursday 12 January 2022, she will join Dinis Sousa (piano) and players from the RNS at Wigmore Hall in a programme that includes Jake Heggie's chamber arrangement of Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis, two works by Lili Boulanger and Franck Villard's chamber arrangement of Chausson's Poème de l’amour et de la mer [see Wigmore Hall website]. Then on Saturday (14/1/2023), there will be an expanded version of the programme at Sage Gateshead.

Further ahead, Connolly returns to Sage Gateshead and joins Dinis Sousa and the RNS in Mahler's Rückert-Lieder, plus Schubert's Symphony No. 7 (another symphony he never finished) and Brahms' Symphony No. 3. Full details from the Sage Gateshead website.

Royal Northern Sinfonia celebrates return of Lindisfarne Gospels to the North East with Music and Spirituality season at Sage Gateshead

The Lindisfarne Gospels (Photo British Library)

The Lindisfarne Gospels return to the North East next month when, from 17 September to 3 December 2022 they will be on display at the Laing Art Gallery, on loan from the British Library [further information from the Laing Art Gallery website]. In celebration, the Royal Northern Sinfonia will be joined by conductor James Weeks and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly at Sage Gateshead on Friday 23 September 2022 for Spiritual Sounds, exploring spirituality in sounds, words and images, with artwork from the Gospels accompanying music from Hildegard of Bingen and Purcell, plus John Tavener's Supernatural Songs and Arvo Pärt's Orient and Occident [further information from the Sage Gateshead website].

The concert is part of the orchestra's season at Sage Gateshead exploring Music and Spirituality. Things kick off on 17 September when principal conductor Dinis Sousa conducts the orchestra in music by Ives, , Mozart's Mass in C Minor and Beethoven's Piano Concerto (with pianist Jeremy Denk), plus Ives' The Unanswered Question and Kurtág's intriguing response, Ligatura-Message (The Answered Unanswered Question). Sousa returns on 14 October and will be joined by cellist Anastasia Kobekina in Kaija Saariaho’s Nymphea Reflection, Schumann’s Cello Concerto and Beethoven’s Symphony No.8.

Other concerts include Gemma New, principal conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducting music by Barber, Stravinsky, Copland and Ibert, with two of the orchestra's  new Section Leaders as soloists, clarinettist Cristina Mateo and flautist Charlotte Ashton.  And the orchestra's conductor laureate Thomas Zehetmair appears on 25 November with Walton’s Viola Concerto (soloist featuring Ruth Kilius), and Vaughan William’s Symphony no.2 ‘A London Symphony’, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of his birth. And the New Year sees another welcome returnee, Lars Vogt directs a programme of Mozart and Dvorak from the piano including Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23.

The season at Sage Gateshead does not just include the Royal Northern Sinfonia, there are visits from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner, the Belgian National Orchestra and Roberto González-Monjas, The Hallé and Mark Elder, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Domingo Hindoyan.

Full details from the Sage Gateshead website.

Northern Chords Festival launches its mentorship scheme

The Northern Chords Festival was created by cellist and conductor Jonathan Bloxham in 2009 in order to bring artists to the North East and to inspire local young people and amateur musicians to follow their dreams. The festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019, and this year returns with a full weekend of events (13 -15 May) in Newcastle, performs at Kings Place in London on 20 March 2022. The festival has now launched its Mentorship Programme.

Jonathan Bloxham explains "The arts sector, and the music industry particularly, has been hit very hard by political and global events of recent years. Nurturing a new generation of talented musicians, many of whom may have missed out on opportunities recently, is essential for the healthy survival of classical music. This is a unique opportunity to work closely with world-leading artists, and our hope is to provide holistic guidance to people who might not otherwise have the access or financial resources."

In its first year the scheme will support four musicians. Northern Chords are looking for applicants specialising in voice, piano, composition and violin. Successful candidates will benefit from one to one online sessions with their mentors, extra sessions with guests such as renowned saxophonist Jess Gillam and well being sessions with Elena Urioste. The culmination of the scheme is a performance opportunity at the 14th Northern Chords Festival, taking place in May 2022, in which the four mentee's will collaborate and present a programme that they have devised together. 

Applications are invited from musicians from all backgrounds and ages pursuing a career in performance. Thanks to the generous support of the Gillian Dickinson Trust, there is no cost to apply or take part in the scheme. The closing date is 21 February 2022. Full details from the festival website.

A new season, a return to live performances and a new principal conductor: exciting times for the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead

Dinis Sousa

The Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) returns to live performance with a live-streamed concert from the Sage Gateshead on 16 April 2021 when they will be joined by Dame Sarah Connolly for Berlioz' Les Nuits d’été plus music by Haydn and Lili Boulanger. This concert marks the start of the Sage's New Beginnings season, returning to live performances. As if that was not exciting enough, the concert on 16 April will also feature a young Portuguese conductor, Dinis Sousa who has just been appointed the sinfonia's principal conductor.

Sousa will be moving his base to the region and playing an active role in its musical life, including the Sage and RNS' work reaching new audiences. This activity is part of a deliberate campaign by the Sage and RNS to meaningfully respond to the communities in the North East's need for music and the arts at such a challenging time. The RNS is also looking to fill all open positions by launching a fast-track recruitment drive.

Sousa was introduced to the orchestra via the Classical Futures Europe scheme and has conducted them twice already. First at the launch of the Beethoven 2020: The Next Generation series in Carlisle and Middlesbrough in January 2020 when the orchestra performed Beethoven alongside the winning work from a composition competition the orchestra held. More recently Sousa was at the helm in a concert of Stravinsky, Mendelssohn and music by the young American composer Caroline Shaw, as part of the Sage Live 2020 series last autumn. 

Sousa is Founder and Artistic Director of Orquestra XXI, an award-winning orchestra that brings together Portuguese musicians living around the world, for which in recognition of his work he was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of Prince Henry in Portugal. He also works closely with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his ensembles, having been appointed the first-ever Assistant Conductor of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras in 2018.

Dates announced so far include 16 April's Dawn to Dusk concert and Paul McCreesh conducting a concert themed on Spring on 30 April 2021 with violinist Jennifer Pike. On 1 May, RNS will launch a large-scale participation project bringing community and professional singers and players together in a moment for a performance of Verdi's Requiem.

Full details from the Sage Gateshead website.