December 2023 – Before planning your visit, please check our ‘Visitor Notices’ for accessibility updates and one-off changes to opening times. Click here to view.

December 2023 – Before planning your visit, please check our ‘Visitor Notices’ for accessibility updates and one-off changes to opening times. Click here to view.
Newcastle Cathedral is delighted to be the latest venue to host a remarkable evening of original songs, featuring music composed and performed by individuals who have sought sanctuary in the North East.
Stories of Sanctuary draws inspiration from the region’s rich history of providing sanctuary to those in need. This latest performance, featuring singers from choirs formed in previous cities, is presented in collaboration with Citizen Songwriters and The Arts Society Tyneside.
The Stories of Sanctuary initiative began in Durham in 2018. Since its inception, it has been performed across the country over 15 times, from Sunderland to Southampton.
Drawing on the North East’s rich history of offering sanctuary – from the arrival of an exiled monastic community seeking sanctuary from the Vikings to modern stories of fleeing the civil war in Syria – Stories of Sanctuary warmly invites you into the project that inspired infectious friendships as well as deeply beautiful songs.
Stories of Sanctuary is made up of the Sanctuary Seekers Choir, featuring the National Syrian Orchestra’s Raghad Haddad, along with the project’s curator and singer-songwriter Sam Slatcher. The project had its sold-out premiere at Durham Cathedral in October 2018 and has been to Sheffield, Hull, Leicester and Birmingham for the UK tour.
This event will act as the preview event of Newcastle’s very own ongoing Sanctuary Seekers Choir, which will launch fully in the New Year.
All proceeds will support future community songwriting workshops delivered by the Lantern Initiative, part of the Cathedral’s work providing a beacon of light for those going through challenging times.
Click here to find out more about the Cathedral’s Lantern Initiative.