The Glasshouse

Episode #8: Numbers

The theme for this latest episode is Numbers.

Music is, of course, one of the creative arts, capable of expressing and rousing all kinds of emotions. And yet composers and songwriters have long been fascinated too by the interplay of music and numbers.

Many of them also crank up the left side of their brains, using numbers and patterns and formulae as structural devices, time signatures and rhythmical hooks.

So on this podcast episode we’ll hear from pianist Lars Vogt on why his favorite number is 32.Thorben Dittes tells us about plans to celebrate the 60th birthday of Royal Northern Sinfonia. We’ll get a school report from Errollyn Wallen who has written more than a dozen operas. We’ll ask Maximo Park singer and songwriter Paul Smith what it’s like to perform on a small river boat in front of 20,000 people And we’ll find out from Paul Hartnoll of electronic music pioneers Orbital why his favourite mode of transport is two feet.

So join us for half an hour as we do the maths and crunch some numbers.

Backstage is a regular podcast where we go behind the scenes for exclusive interviews and insights from leading and emerging artists who’ll be taking to the stage at Sage Gateshead, and discover some of the activities that take place, and the communities that meet there.