After months of closure, one of the North of England’s most renowned live arts venues, Sage Gateshead, has announced a series of concerts over the next three months.
Sage Live 2020 is a seven week series of live performances featuring the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) and a series of contemporary musicians.
The Friday concerts with Sinfonia will include the world premiere of Kristina Arakelyan’s Fantasia on a Theme by Ludwig van Beethoven, commissioned by Sage, and Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, amongst a more familiar programme of classical works. RNS will also be including talent from groups currently under-represented in classical music.
Saturday nights will feature contemporary artists such as Kathryn Tickell in a unique show with her family, a solo performance by Richard Dawson and Mercury-nominated Lanterns On The Lake. All artists will be socially distanced on stage.
Seats will be limited to 300 of the usual 1700 by Covid restrictions so tickets will be released in stages to allow regular and new audiences access. There will also be an allocation of free tickets for health and social care workers and Gateshead residents visiting Sage for the first time.
All the concerts will be also live streamed, offering music lovers from around the world to experience something of the Sage’s unique atmosphere.
As with many venues, Sage Gateshead has struggled over the lockdown, losing 60% of income overnight. Despite a high-profile fund-raising exercise, a large number of redundancies was announced last month. However, the charity-operated venue is seeking to raise £1 million by next summer to safeguard its future.
