The Sage Gateshead

That is the incredible new building that is dedicated to music. To put it into one word, WOW! It is the most fabulous building, and I've had the oppurtunity of singing there on 2 occasions this last week. On Saturday the choir I'm in, Swing Bridge Singers, was singing several times at the opening, where there was so many amazing bands (etc) playing. We did 3 short concerts in Hall 3, which is pretty fantastic. We were sharing those concerts with Folkestra, a regional youth folk band, who are amazing! At these performances we sang the usual Swing Bridge repetoire, which includes madrigals, jazz, folk, African, Italian, 70s/80's pop songs, pretty much everything!

On Monday was slightly (very) different. We were performing in the first concert after the opening and it was a youth choirs concert. There was 6 youth choirs from around the region, with some very contrasted styles of singing! We all were sat on the stage together the whole concert and were conducted by the world renound American Scott Stroman who is an incredible conductor. Being a Christmas concert, we sang about 7 Christmas songs all together, some traditional carols, some (most) which I've never heard before. Each choir had their own slot. We sang 2 Christmas songs, the first being The Birthday Carol which is quite fun but quite hard! And the second was the most beautiful arrangement of Away in a Manger that you will ever hear. The harmonies are incredible. And I got to sing the second verse solo. In front of 1400 people! It was a bit nerve-wrecking but I was really excited and I loved doing it! The whole day was extrememly exhausting (we were there from about 11:30am, rehearsing all day and then had a 2 or 3 hour performance) so it was good to get home, but I'll not forget that day in a hurry! The next post is a photo of us all at the Sage on stage.