Sage Gateshead

Listen to the sixth and final episode of our new six-part podcast series, Making Tracks. Bradley Kulisic from Singing Light Music talks to music leaders Holly and Frankie about music management, marketing and distribution. Bradley has worked with artists and independent record labels since 2002. His DIY ethic was shaped by working with Dischord, Southern Records, Constellation and Barry Adamson. He has run campaigns for artists like Peaches, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Colin Stetson. He manages Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Eleni Drake, Holy Moly & the Crackers and more. Singing Light Music was launched 2019 with the intention of bringing all these experiences together under one umbrella, to help demystify the music business and to offer support and guidance on releasing records, physical and digital distribution and rights management for artists, creators, managers and labels. Making Tracks, is our six-part podcast series, a podcast from behind the production desk, for songwriters and music producers who are ready to step into the studio. Music producer and educator Lisa Murphy and team lift the lid on the North East music industry by interviewing people working directly in the industry about how they use music technology in their music making. Making Tracks is a songwriting and music production course delivered by professional music producers in professional recording studios in the North East. Whether you're looking to take your first steps, develop your existing knowledge, or work towards becoming a professional producer, there's a Making Tracks course for you. This podcast series is brought to you by Access Music Production CIC in collaboration with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. At the time of recording, The Glasshouse was called Sage Gateshead, so you may hear some references to our old name.

For the second last episode in our Making Tracks podcast series, Lisa talks to music producer and DJ Lee Robinson. We find out more about his career, how he got started and his advice to anyone making and performing electronic music. Making Tracks, is our new six-part podcast series, a podcast from behind the production desk, for songwriters and music producers who are ready to step into the studio. Join music producer and educator Lisa Murphy and team as they lift the lid on the North East music industry by interviewing people working directly in the industry about how they use music technology in their music making. Making Tracks is a songwriting and music production course delivered by professional music producers in professional recording studios in the North East. Whether you're looking to take your first steps, develop your existing knowledge, or work towards becoming a professional producer, there's a Making Tracks course for you. This podcast series is brought to you by Access Music Production CIC in collaboration with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. At the time of recording, The Glasshouse was called Sage Gateshead, so you may hear some references to our old name.

Listen to the fourth episode of our new six-part podcast series, Making Tracks, a podcast from behind the production desk, for songwriters and music producers who are ready to step into the studio. Music leaders Holly and Frankie chat to Joe and Hannah who recently attended the Making Tracks course. Joe plays guitar and sings, does a lot of busking, and has recently completed the advanced Making Tracks course. Hannah is a singer-songwriter and plays flute. They tell us how they got into music technology, what the course is really like and what they're up to next. Making Tracks, is our new six-part podcast series. Music producer and educator Lisa Murphy and team lift the lid on the North East music industry by interviewing people working directly in the industry about how they use music technology in their music making. Making Tracks is a songwriting and music production course delivered by professional music producers in professional recording studios in the North East. Whether you're looking to take your first steps, develop your existing knowledge, or work towards becoming a professional producer, there's a Making Tracks course for you. This podcast series is brought to you by Access Music Production CIC in collaboration with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. At the time of recording, The Glasshouse was called Sage Gateshead, so you may hear some references to our old name.

In the third episode of our new six-part Making Tracks podcast series, Lisa is joined by Claire Dupree, editor of North East-based monthly alt. music and culture magazine NARC. Claire regularly supports musicians to help them get to grips with the world of marketing, press and promotion. She offers tips on press release writing, the logistics of how to approach press outlets, the importance of joined up campaigns with radio, social media tips and how to stay organised so you can get the best results for your efforts. Making Tracks, is our new six-part podcast series, a podcast from behind the production desk, for songwriters and music producers who are ready to step into the studio. Join music producer and educator Lisa Murphy and team as they lift the lid on the North East music industry by interviewing people working directly in the industry about how they use music technology in their music making. Making Tracks is a songwriting and music production course delivered by professional music producers in professional recording studios in the North East. Whether you're looking to take your first steps, develop your existing knowledge, or work towards becoming a professional producer, there's a Making Tracks course for you. This podcast series is brought to you by Access Music Production CIC in collaboration with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. At the time of recording, The Glasshouse was called Sage Gateshead, so you may hear some references to our old name.

Making Tracks, is our new six-part podcast series, a podcast from behind the production desk, for songwriters and music producers who are ready to step into the studio. Join music producer and educator Lisa Murphy and team as they lift the lid on the North East music industry by interviewing people working directly in the industry about how they use music technology in their music making. In our second episode, Lisa is joined by singer-songwriter Maius Mollis (Maisie Cowburn-Bannister). Find out about how Masie writes her music, what her influences are and how she's using music technology in her work. Making Tracks is a songwriting and music production course delivered by professional music producers in professional recording studios in the North East. Whether you're looking to take your first steps, develop your existing knowledge, or work towards becoming a professional producer, there's a Making Tracks course for you. This podcast series is brought to you by Access Music Production CIC in collaboration with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. At the time of recording, The Glasshouse was called Sage Gateshead, so you may hear some references to our old name.

Listen to our new six-part podcast series, Making Tracks, a podcast from behind the production desk, for songwriters and music producers who are ready to step into the studio. In this series, join music producer and educator Lisa Murphy and her team as they lift the lid on the North East music industry by interviewing people working directly in the industry about how they use music technology in their music making. In this first episode, Lisa is joined by fellow music leaders Frankie and Holly who tell us more about music technology and the Making Tracks programme. Making Tracks is a songwriting and music production course delivered by professional music producers in professional recording studios in the North East. Whether you're looking to take your first steps, develop your existing knowledge, or work towards becoming a professional producer, there's a Making Tracks course for you. This podcast series is brought to you by Access Music Production CIC in collaboration with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. At the time of recording, The Glasshouse was called Sage Gateshead, so you may hear some references to our old name.

Listen to musicians who have been our Artists in Reseidence talk about their experiences at Sage Gateshead.

Listen to musicians who have been our Artists in Reseidence talk about their experiences at Sage Gateshead.

Listen to musicians who have been our Artists in Reseidence talk about their experiences at Sage Gateshead.

Listen to musicians who have been our Artists in Reseidence talk about their experiences at Sage Gateshead.

An approach called social pedagogy underpins much of the practice with children and young people at Sage Gateshead. In this episode, you'll hear from Jenny Young, executive director of Blue Cabin and one of the speakers at a recent MC2 mini conference on the subject. Two of the people who attended the hybrid event, Jake Fletcher and Sarah Stamp, share their thoughts too.

In this special Christmas episode, José González tells us how his song writing has evolved over the last 20 years, Kate Rusby explains her unique affinity with the yuletide season, while Fatt Butcher and Beccy Owen give us a sneak preview of their winter cabaret.

We often use the word magical to describe a musician whose work we love and admire… but one Swedish artist who is coming to Sage Gateshead on November 5 literally performs magic. In this episode of the Backstage podcast, we speak to Magnus Holmander at his home in Stockholm to find out why he chooses to mix clarinet concertos with conjuring and what the Sage Gateshead audience can expect from his evening of Nordic Magic.

In this episode, we meet four musicians who have completed a 10-month residency with Sage Gateshead: Holly Clarke, Joe Snape, Me Lost Me and Rapasa Otieno. Their residencies culminated last weekend with a series of performances in front of socially distanced audiences in Sage One. We speak to each of the artists to find out what it meant to them to be able to showcase their new work in those performances – which were also streamed and are still available to view online.

It goes without saying that young people will become the leaders of tomorrow’s creative industries…but what are we doing to ensure that children and young people from all backgrounds are not only included… but given a voice? Nurturing and listening to youth voice was the focus of the latest MC2 event organised by Sage Gateshead, a mini-conference for music Leaders, music teachers, project workers and musicians working with children and young people who are experiencing challenging circumstances. In this episode we hear from one of the speakers, Esther Lenda Bokuma, who records and performs under the name Estée Blu and also helps young people build career pathways in the music industry. We hear too from a couple of the delegates who attended the conference: Michael Graham who works for Welsh National Opera, and Hannah West of Encore, which runs the Herefordshire Music Service.

The theme for this episode is New Beginnings. Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sage Gateshead’s very own orchestra, has a new principal conductor, Dinis Sousa – we meet him and hear his vision for the Sinfonia and its role here in the north east and beyond And now that Sage Gateshead’s Young Musicians Programme of tuition for aspiring musicians has opened applications for 2021/22, we meet one young violinist, Connie Hayward, who says that for her the programme has been lifechanging.

Over the last 12 months many of us have decided to use some time to do something we’ve always wanted… or intended to do. Through Sage Gateshead, people of all ages have been seizing the opportunity in recent months to take up everything from ukulele and piano to singing and the bass. So on this episode, we find out more about what’s involved, and how you can start making music – even if you’ve never played a song a note in your life. We check in with one of students on the Young Musicians Programme before learning a few chords with a tutor on the Virtuition online lessons for adults.

The efforts of community music groups to carry out their important work have been thwarted by the pandemic. But an online mini conference, MC2 – convened and hosted by Sage Gateshead – gathered together experts including Drake Music, NYMAZ and the Children’s Society to offer much needed support and encouragement. In this episode, we hear from three of the attendees. Each of them runs a very different type of community music service – in Essex, Leeds and in Northumberland – and they tell us about the work they do, the impact of the pandemic on their activities and what they took away from this year's MC2. Funded by Youth Music.

We chat to Darlington singer-songwriter and former Summer Studios resident Hayley McKay, who has been discovering lots of opportunities via live streams and Zoom meetings to find new fans and song-writing collaborators around the world.

In our final podcast episode of the year, we’re spending time with two north east artists who have made the most of the last 12 months, despite the lost gigs, lockdowns and setbacks: Martha Hill, who is appearing at the Sage Gateshead Christmas Cracker this Friday evening on a bill that includes Sam Fender and Royal Northern Sinfonia; and Darlington singer-songwriter Hayley McKay, who has been discovering lots of opportunities via live streams and Zoom meetings to find new fans and songwriting collaborators around the world.

In an age of technological disruption and digital streaming services. live music has been the once place where musicians could still hope to earn enough to follow their dream or calling. But since March, even that tap has been turned off, as coronavirus restrictions mean venues must remain closed or operate at low capacities. Lots of freelance musicians have fallen through the gaps in financial support made available to the sector and a survey by the Musicians Union suggests one third may be forced to quit the industry. To get a better perspective, in this podcast episode, we hear from James Slater and Dan Hammersley, two professional musicians with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. By their own admission, as salaried employees James and Dan are better off than most musicians. But they also know well the hard work, long hours, repetitive practice and sacrifices made by every professional artist trying to make a living from their craft.

In normal, non-pandemic times, the Music Education Centre inside Sage Gateshead is a busy hub of daily activity. For members of the Silver Programme classes for people over the age of 50, it’s also been a place for making friendships as well as music. We Zoom-called Silver programme member Christine Ogg to see how she’s been adapting, now that her choir practices are being held online.

An interview with Abigail Pogson by Sage Gateshead

Some of the north east’s best and most critically acclaimed artists will be headlining performances at Sage Gateshead over the next few weeks, as it welcomes back audiences for the first time since lockdown. Kathryn Tickell, Richard Dawson and the Royal Northern Sinfonia are just some of the big names on the Sage Live 2020 series of live gigs and concerts in front of a socially distanced audience inside Sage Gateshead. And so too is Newcastle’s Lanterns on the Lake, who will be performing their Mercury-nominated album Spook the Herd for the very first time. We spoke to the band’s guitarist and producer, Paul Gregory, about why this year has been a particularly bizarre one for him, the band’s vocalist Hazel Wilde… and their baby daughter.

The long wait is almost over. Seven drawn-out months after lockdown restrictions forced it to close, Sage Gateshead is about to open its doors and arms again, to artists and audiences. This weekend sees the beginning of Sage Live 2020, a seven-week series of live performances in front of socially-distanced audiences inside the Sage Gateshead building, gigs and concerts which will also be live streamed. So, in this episode we speak to Paul Gregory of Mercury nominated Lanterns on the Lake – one of the artists appearing in this new series of performances. We hear from Sage Gateshead managing director Abigail Pogson as she describes how she’s steering the organisation through these challenging times. And have a Zoom call – what else – with a keen singer who now Zooms to choir practice each week with the Virtual Sing course, part of Sage Gateshead’s new Make Music Virtual programme of online classes.

A passion for preserving the local indigenous music of western Kenya has brought vocalist and nyatiti player Rapasa Otieno to the north east of England where he is one of Sage Gateshead’s four artists-in-residence. Rapasa, who released his debut album Tipona earlier this year, introduces us to the nyatiti instrument and explains what he hopes to gain from his residency.

He’s spent the last seven years touring the world, gaining an international reputation as house music DJ and record producer Man Power. But Geoff Kirkwood has now returned to the north east to be one of Sage Gateshead’s four artists-in residence with an ambitious project that involves orchestras, traditional Japanese singers and a couple of car factories.

Jayne Dent admits she "freaked out my mum a bit" when she discovered she was one of four musicians awarded a 10-month residency with Sage Gateshead. Performing as ME LOST ME, Jayne takes inspiration from folk, electronica, pop, noise and ambient music, combining her voice alongside a concertina, looper and sampler to create her unique, genre-defying sound.

Joe Snape's musical career began with recording songs on his mum’s computer and flogging hand-painted CDs to friends at school. Now he's an artist-in-residence at Sage Gateshead, with ambitions to create an ensemble of classical and community musicians to play his "weird pop".

Music journalist Claire Dupree, composer/arranger Fiona Brice and Sony record label exec Julie Weir give us a sneak preview of the advice they’ve been giving to the latest group of artists taking part in Sage Gateshead’s Summer Studios programme.

In our latest podcast, we chat to drummer Cat Myers, composer Ben Gaunt, spoken word artist Faithful Johannes, vocalist/songwriter Sara Colman and keyboardist Rebecca Nash ahead of their Summer Studios residency this August.

Sage Gateshead MD Abigail Pogson talks on our latest podcast 'Backstage' about the current crisis, the recently launched Crisis, Recovery and Renaissance fundraising campaign, plus snakes, Kylie and home-schooling…

Backstage: Ep #34 Martha Hill, Ceitidh Mac & Hayley McKay by Sage Gateshead

An interview with Jon Boden by Sage Gateshead

An interview with Arcane Roots by Sage Gateshead

An interview with Joan As Policewoman by Sage Gateshead

RNS performing at Gateshead Older People's Assembly by Sage Gateshead

Since lockdown, the Young Musicians Programme, or YMP, at Sage Gateshead has by necessity transferred online. This new version — YMP at Home — has enabled almost 180 students to enjoy one-to-one tuition each week via Microsoft Teams. Ian Wylie spoke with one of the music leaders and a couple of her students to see how YMP at Home is actually accelerating learning in some cases, while helping to support music leaders as well as students handle the challenges of lockdown.

Turn Up The Quiet by Sage Gateshead

An Interview with Sophie Ellis-Bextor by Sage Gateshead

An Interview with Gabrielle by Sage Gateshead

An Interview with Paul Smith by Sage Gateshead

An Interview with Lau by Sage Gateshead

Lightning_Seeds' Ian Broudie by Sage Gateshead

Lars Vogt, RNS Music Director by Sage Gateshead

SK Shlomo has recorded with Bjork, jammed with Ed Sheeran and performed on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage. This lockdown he is working with children and young people and their parents and carers to teach them how to beatbox. Homeskool Beatbox Adventures is a weekly 30-minute interactive show that's live-streamed every Thursday at 2pm. Special guests so far have included KT Tunstall, Bill Bailey and Jason Mraz. https://sagegateshead.com/read-watch-listen/homeskool-beatbox-adventures-with-shlomo/

Holly’s folk music journey began when she attend the Folkworks Summer School. Since then she’s gone on to support Billy Bragg, star in Sage Gateshead’s New Year New Artists Festival and take part in a Summer Studios residency. She is currently Artist in Residence here at Sage Gateshead. Hear more about Holly Clarke’s journey in this podcast.

Find out what young saxophone sensation Jess Gillam loves about performing and why she chose the saxophone as her instrument. In this podcast throwback Ian talks to Jess just before her performance at our New Year New Artists festival about how important music is for children.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the worlds greatest living explorer; even at the age of 75 he shows no intentions of slowing down. What are his secrets of living such a long yet dangerous life? Listen as he explains how he pushes through physical and mental barriers to go where no man or woman has gone before.

We speak with Ruth Patterson about her time as one of our Artists in Residence this year and how the pandemic has impacted on her work including the postponement of her concert, her new studio and plans for her forthcoming debut single

While we’re in lockdown we thought we’d dig into our podcast archive and pull out some of the most popular interviews, in case you missed them the first time or for you to enjoy again. Ahead of his live show at Sage Gateshead in 2018 we spoke to TV doctor Michael Mosley, who tell us that will-power is grossly over-rated!