Royal Northern Sinfonia to perform in South America at invitation of British Council.

On 6 May, Royal Northern Sinfonia, orchestra of Sage Gateshead travels to Brazil to perform at a prestigious orchestral leadership conference, at the invitation of the British Council. This is the first visit to South America by Royal Northern Sinfonia and they have the great honour of opening the third and final edition of the MultiOrquestra Conference in São Paulo.  The conference is a sector and capacity building project for the Brazilian classical music world created by the British Council Brazil in partnership with the Association of British Orchestras.  The project forms part of Transform, a multi-arts engagement initiative leading from London 2013 to Rio 2016 Olympics. The third and final conference presents the culmination of the orchestral strands and investigates different models for orchestras in the 21st century.  Following in the footsteps of Aurora Orchestra and Scottish Ensemble, Royal Northern Sinfonia will be showcasing their special way of working through a performance which combines orchestral soloists with composer/pianist/conductor Olli Mustonen.  The performance will highlight their multi-faceted approach to music making, based on the principles of chamber music with guest artists as special partners. The programme includes Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.1 with soloists Olli Mustonen and Richard Martin, and Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto with soloist Steven Hudson.   Following the opening performance on 10 May, Royal Northern Sinfonia will give further public performances in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They will also work in a side-by-side education project with the string orchestra of GURI Santa Marzellina. This collaboration marks another stage in the ongoing exchange relationship between the groundbreaking GURI project and Sage Gateshead's Learning & Participation Programme. On their return to the UK, Royal Northern Sinfonia will continue their journey through the Classical landscape, culminating in the season finale on 10 June with Lars Vogt’s Sibelius Seven.  For tickets and further information on the season finale and future performances of the Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia go to  www.sagegateshead.com or call Ticket Office on 0191 443 4661.