GemArts

08/10/2026

Our East By North East programme is making music more accessible for young people across our region – and we're proud to announce that we're now backed by Youth Music.

For the last 13 years, GemArts has been supporting schools and communities across Newcastle and Gateshead which might otherwise have limited access to music making. With the help of key partners – including North Benwell Youth Project, Excelsior Academy, Life Transformation Church, and the GemArts Homework Club – the East By North East project enables young people to work with professional music leaders, develop their skills and build their confidence.

This vital funding from Youth Music will allow the East By North East programme to continue for the next three years. So, here's to changing more young people's lives through music! 🎶 🥳

📸 Photos by Anna Miller

07/10/2026

30/09/2026

Zoe Rahman presents Hull Suite Live l

Award-winning pianist and composer Zoe Rahman brings her world-class jazz trio, featuring Gene Calderazzo on drums and Alec Dankworth on bass.

Inspired by voyage, migration, the sea and Zoe’s British-Bengali heritage, Hull Suite blends soulful melodies, earthy blues and cinematic textures.

📅 Friday 2 October 2026 | 8pm
📍 The Lit & Phil

Presented by Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, alongside Jazz North East and GemArts.

25/09/2026

18/09/2026

“Charismatic clarinettist Arun Ghosh performs a feel-good IndoJazz set, with soaring melodies and hypnotic South Asian rhythms” Coming to Gosforth Civic Theatre next Thursday 24th September.

TICKETS: https://www.seetickets.com/event/arun-ghosh-nfojaim-2026-/gosforth-civic-theatre/3668840

Arun Ghosh: https://www.facebook.com/events/1323671986452690

Arun Ghosh
Gosforth Civic Theatre - Newcastle upon Tyne
Thursday 24th September 2026
Tickets: £18.00 + Booking and Processing Fee
(£22.00 On The Door Subject To Capacity)

ARUN GHOSH SEXTET

Arun Ghosh - clarinet, and harmonium
Chris Williams - alto and baritone saxophone
John Ellis - piano
Gavin Barras - double bass
Dalbir Singh Rattan - tabla and percussion
Dave Walsh - drums

Arun Ghosh

Three years on from his celebrated BBC Proms x Masala Festival show in Gateshead, clarinettist Arun Ghosh returns to the North East, bringing his joyful and effervescent IndoJazz sound.

It’s a return of Ghosh’s original IndoJazz Sextet, where lyrical and searching melodies soar over South Asian rhythms. As the horns’ soulful expressions veer into searing improvisations, a heady mix of hypnotic basslines, tabla trickery, and driving drums combine to propel the music forwards.

Twice winner of UK Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year, Ghosh is a charismatic and communicative performer, a renowned innovator of modern IndoJazz, and a stalwart of the British jazz scene.

Tonight, the band will be premiering new material alongside music from Ghosh’s acclaimed albums A South Asian Suite, but where are you really from?, and Northern Namaste …. these shows are always startling, spontaneous and moving events, and this is one that’s not to be missed!

Presented by Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music with GemArts and Jazz North East, and with support from Arts Council England, it’s an absolute delight to welcome Arun Ghosh and his sextet to perform the opening concert for this years NFOJAiM.

www.newcastlefestivalofjazzandimprovisedmusic.co.uk
www.gemarts.org

GemArts
Gosforth Civic Theatre
Jazz North East
New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings

18/09/2026

For nearly four centuries, Ustad Irshad Khan’s family has carried forward an extraordinary musical legacy.

A distinguished sitarist and surbahar exponent, Ustad Irshad Khan learnt from his father, Ustad Imrat Khan, his first guru, and grew up immersed in the music of his legendary uncle, Ustad Vilayat Khan. His family lineage traces back to Ustad Sahabdad Khan, credited with creating the surbahar.

Accompanying him on tabla is Gurdain Rayatt, a highly sought-after British-Indian classical musician, known for his rhythmic precision and sensitive accompaniment.

✨ Experience this remarkable musical legacy live at Riverside Ragas.

📅 Friday 23 October
📍 The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

Book your tickets at GemArts.org — link in bio.

15/09/2026

04/09/2026

GemArts is collaborating with our friends at Jazz North East for the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music (24th September - 4th October). Expect a varied range of repertoire, from the joyful IndoJazz of clarinettist Arun Ghosh, to a double bill with the John Pope Quintet & Urvashi, a special BBC Introducing event at The Glasshouse, and new music from the amazing Zoe Rahman Trio.

🎫 Ticket link in bio