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Student compositions get Sage treatment

Music students at two North East universities are to hear their compositions performed by Northern Sinfonia in a new series of public concerts at The Sage Gateshead. This chance for budding composers at Newcastle and Durham universities to air their work in the £70m music venue is the result a new educational project. The two universities are part of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in Music, set up in the North East last year with special government funding. There will be up to three concerts a year in the next five years in a special series entitled ‘Composers of the North East’.Since March, students and performers have been taking part in workshops to develop the compositions and rehearse for the concerts. Each concert will programme their works alongside compositions by their university lecturers, Dr Martyn Harry (Durham) and Dr Agustín Fernández (Newcastle), and the music of a distinguished guest composer, in this case Peter Wiegold, who also directs the first concert.Anthony Brice, Northern Sinfonia Manager at The Sage Gateshead, said: “It is a real thrill that we can showcase works by locally based student composers alongside that of their Lecturers. To be able to give young composers the opportunity not just to hear their pieces through the workshops, but to be able engage with the musicians is crucial to their development.” The inaugural concert will take place this evening.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .