News ? Sage opens

The Sage Gateshead, a £70m music venue on Gateshead Quays, Tyneside, has opened to the public providing thirty-three music spaces including two dedicated performance spaces, a recording studio and a music education centre. The programme for the building will attempt to represent all genres of music through over 400 performances each year.

Over 750,000 people are expected to use the building over the course of 2005, generating an estimated annual turnover of £12m. Artists involved in the opening weekend included the orchestra of The Sage Gateshead ? Northern Sinfonia, Northumbrian smallpipes player Kathryn Tickell, funk band New Mastersounds, saxophonist Andy Sheppard, and aerial performers Fidget Feet (pictured).