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The Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia do battle with Beethoven's monumental and challenging choral masterpiece.

Thomas Zehetmair brings out all the ochestral detail of Bach's masterpiece, creating a beautifully approachable and engaging St Matthew Passion that goes straight to the heart of the story.

A disappointing performance of motets by Bach and Bruckner is rescued by an imaginative and evocative new work by John Casken, performed by Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia and flautist Juliette Bausor.

Soloists from Samling Scholars and Samling Academy join Royal Northern Sinfonia and Chorus for this year's performance of Handel's Messiah at Sage Gateshead.

Starting a concert season with two works with Requiem in the title might sound rather gloomy, but not when one of them is Brahms’ beautiful, consolatory German Requiem, and particularly not when it’s placed in the hands of Thomas Zehetmair, who unfailing brings out the warmth and humanity of Brahms’ music from the musicians of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

It’s a slightly topsy-turvy world when a Shostakovich symphony lightens the mood and sends you home grinning, and when a work by Mahler is a filler rather than the main event.

Handel’s Messiah is a challenge to any conductor, particularly in the English-speaking world. It’s probably the best-loved piece in the classical repertoire, guaranteed to bring people out in great crowds. You can’t mess with Messiah, but at the same time, there’s a danger of sinking into tired tradition.

I would say a little over three quarters of the seats in the Royal Albert Hall were full for Prom 33, featuring Juanjo Mena, the BBC Philharmonic and several northern choirs, and that whilst I’ve seen the arena busier than it was, it was still fairly tightly packed.

Northern Sinfonia’s concert in Hall One of the Sage Gateshead last night challenged the audience to put aside our normal preconceptions, to see well-known composers in a slightly different light. Mendelssohn’s “Fifth” Symphony was actually the second one he wrote – at the age of only 20 – but it was not published until after his death and is not played as much as his other symphonies.

Between them, Mozart and Bach wrote what is to my mind some of the happiest music in the repertoire, and the works performed in this concert by Northern Sinfonia and Chorus reminded us that great music doesn’t have to be solemn, or deliver a serious message – sometimes it’s about having as much fun as possible.

It was hard to believe, listening to this evening’s Late Mix concert at the Sage, that three out of the four pieces played had in fact been substituted at the last minute after a soloist’s sudden illness meant that the original programme couldn’t be performed. Especially as all three pieces retained the spirit of adventure and exploration in which the Late Mix series specialises.

Percy Grainger, the Australian composer of Country Gardens, was a highly original musician, but is often overlooked. This year, however, to mark the 50th anniversary of his death, Northern Sinfonia have put on several performances of his work, first at the Proms, and now a weekend of concerts at the Sage.

There was a sense of celebration in the air at the Sage Gateshead, as the Northern Sinfonia orchestra and chorus began their tenth season under the direction of Thomas Zehetmair with an all-Mozart programme. The hall was full, and before welcoming Zehetmair to the stage, Sage General Director Anthony Sargent had a bit of fun showing off Hall One’s fancy new multi-coloured lighting effects.