The Glasshouse

From Wednesday 19th June to Sunday 23rd June visitors can gather at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music to connect with the natural world through art and music.

Hayden Thorpe’s brand-new artwork, The Hide, has been created during his time as The Glasshouse Artist in Residence. The hide offers up a free sanctuary: a dedicated space for attendees to connect with the natural world, escape daily demands and experience ‘a sensation of ease’.

The Hide will perch on the concourse of The Glasshouse, overlooking the River Tyne and the kittiwakes who call the area home. The installation is wooden in build and draws direct inspiration from a bird hide Hayden spent time in near wetlands outside Kendal.

The Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside is the perfect location for the structure to inspire moments of wildness. For 60 years, before The Glasshouse stood on the banks of the Tyne, the famous Tyne Kittiwakes have brought their wild oceanic calls to the heart of the area.

Hayden Thorpe first made his name as the distinctive voice and chief songwriter of acclaimed indie band Wild Beasts. After five albums for Domino Records – including the Mercury Awards nominated Two Dancers and two further UK Top 10 albums (Present Tense, Boy King) – Thorpe has released two solo albums that combine a magpie range of influences with his unique vocal style and seductive, confessional songwriting.

From Wild Beasts to wildlife, following a return to his native Cumbria, Hayden’s latest work is influenced by the natural world around him.

Music written by Thorpe and recorded with Royal Northern Sinfonia will play to enhance the peaceful space designed for relaxation and reflection.

The Hide is open from Wednesday 19th June to Sunday 23rd June and is free to attend. Visitors can spend as long, or as little, time as they like inside. The original music lasts approximately 15 minutes and will play on loop in the space during opening hours.

As part of his work as an Artist In Residence, Hayden will also lead a songwriting workshop with local musicians inspired by The Hide and engage with local refugee communities to explore the role of nature and music in creating a sense of place.

Hayden Thorpe, artist and songwriter, said:

“Our towns and cities have developed in such a way that there are very few places where we can seek peace and quiet. There are even fewer spaces dedicated to observing the activities of birds who very much share our urban landscape. The Hide is an installation dedicated to fulfilling both of those needs […] By watching the chance events taking place in the natural world around us, I feel we are encouraged to hold our own inner stresses a little lighter […] By paying attention and recognising nature, we not only feel more conscious of the value of the natural world, but we can also better recognise the basic needs required to remain well within ourselves.”

ENDS/

To arrange an interview with Hayden Thorpe on 12th or 13th of June, please reach out to the following media contacts:
Susie Gray, Susie.gray@premiercomms.com 07834 073795
Rebecca Garvey, Rebecca.garvey@premiercomms.com

For further press images please see here:

About The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music is a home for live music lovers.

It’s a place where you can hear rock legends or pop icons on the same night as folk trios or string quartets. Where new musicians are nurtured and showcased on the same stages as platinum-selling performers. And where youth choirs and tambourine-shaking toddlers practise in the same spaces as its acclaimed orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Because as an international centre for music they’re focused on creating and celebrating outstanding music – whether that’s unearthing or growing talent from the region or bringing the world’s best artists to their stages. And as a charity they’re focused on making sure all of that is available to anyone – no matter where you’re from, how old you are, how much money you have, or what challenges you face.

Which is why every year more than 2 million people are able to join for top-notch gigs, concerts, and classes – in their venue at Gateshead Quays, out in communities across the North East, and through livestreamed performances and digital lessons.

Whether you’re making it up or taking it in, you’ll find music lives and grows there.
The Glasshouse International Centre for Music is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL

More about The Glasshouse
International Centre for Music

• From global stars to artists starting out, The Glasshouse has hosted 10,022 performances, totalling 4.7m tickets. To have seen every performance would have meant seeing one show every day for 27 years.
• It’s hosted over 220,000 music lessons for North East folk. The region’s young people have learnt to play, sing or produce with us, on over 1.7m occasions.
• Royal Northern Sinfonia perform at The Glasshouse, tour the region, and have played to international audiences on four continents, with livestreams reaching people across five.
• Like stepping stones, artists like Ward Thomas have worked their way from their free stages to selling out its big hall and getting global recognition.
• The Glasshouse regularly opens its doors to a wide range of conferences and events. Since 2004, they’ve welcome over 400,000 delegates from the likes of Greggs, NHS and British Engines, and many, many more.
• The charity is one of Gateshead’s biggest employers, and so far it’s generated £500m of economic value to the region.
• The charity has been the proud guardians of The Glasshouse for almost 20 years, safeguarding it when live music was put on hold during the pandemic.
• The centre has 630 panes of glass, and stands 40m tall.