Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and also a centre for musical education, located in Gateshead on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the North East of England. It opened in 2004 and is tenanted by the North Music Trust.
The venue is part of the Gateshead Quays development, which also includes the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
Concerts
Sage Gateshead hosts concerts from a wide range of internationally famous artists, and those who have played at the venue include Above and Beyond, Blondie, James Brown, Bonobo, Andy Cutting, De La Soul, Nick Cave, George Clinton, Bill Callahan, Crosby Stills & Nash, Dillinger, Elbow, Explosions In The Sky, The Fall, Herbie Hancock, Mogwai, Morrissey, Mumford & Sons, Grace Jones, Sunn O))), Nancy Sinatra, Snarky Puppy, Sting, Yellowman and others. In February 2015, it was one of the hosts of the second annual BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.
It is also home to Royal Northern Sinfonia, described by The Guardian as 'no better chamber orchestra in Britain' and regularly hosts other visiting orchestras from around the world. The current Music Director for Royal Northern Sinfonia is the pianist and conductor Lars Vogt. In late 2014, Royal Northern Sinfonia collaborated with John Grant, performing at Sage Gateshead and other venues throughout the UK. Recordings from this tour were made available as a limited edition CD and 12" record via Rough Trade Records in 2015.
Origins
The centre occupies a curved glass and stainless steel building designed by Foster and Partners, Buro Happold (structural engineering), Mott MacDonald (building services) and Arup (acoustics), with views of Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides, the Tyne Bridge, and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. Foster and Partners were selected following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions.
Planning for the centre began in the early 1990s, when orchestra of Sage Gateshead, Royal Northern Sinfonia, with encouragement from Northern Arts, began working on plans for a new concert hall. They were soon joined by regional folk music development agency Folkworks, which ensured that the needs of the region's traditional music were taken into consideration and represented in Sage Gateshead's programme of concerts, alongside Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip Hop, classical, jazz, acoustic, indie, country and world, Practice spaces for professional musicians, students and amateurs were an important part of the provision.
The planning and construction process cost over £70 million, which was raised primarily through National Lottery grants. The contractor was Laing O'Rourke. The centre has a range of patrons, notably Sage Group which contributed a large sum of money to have the building named after it. Sage plc has helped support the charitable activities of Sage Gateshead since its conception. The venue opened over the weekend 17 – 19 December 2004.
Sage Gateshead is also available as a conference venue: for example it hosted the Labour Party's Spring conference in February 2005. It will also be hosting the Liberal Democrat Party conference in March 2012. In August 2009, the National Union of Students announced that their 2010 and 2011 National Conferences would be held at Sage Gateshead.
