Melbourne audiences are set for an evening of powerful storytelling through music when Omega Ensemble arrives at Melbourne Recital Hall on 13 July as part of its new national tour, Inner Landscapes.
The four-city tour will travel through Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney and Penrith, bringing together works from some of the most celebrated names in classical music alongside the world premiere of a major new Australian composition.
At the heart of the program is Paludarium Dreams, the first Clarinet Concerto by acclaimed Australian composer Paul Stanhope. Written in response to the natural world surrounding Sydney Harbour, the new work draws inspiration from birds in flight, nocturnal frogs and the distinctive sounds of local wildlife.ga
Stanhope said audiences will hear those influences woven throughout the piece.
“My new Clarinet Concerto is written in response to the vitality and natural abundance of the natural world around Sydney Harbour,” he said.
“The sense of energy and freedom of birds in flight, the swampy sounds of frogs at night and the quirky character-filled calls of local avian life are elements the audience will clearly hear in this new concerto. I’m excited to hear David Rowden and the wonderful musicians of the Omega Ensemble bring this new piece to life.”
The concert opens with John Corigliano’s Soliloquy, a deeply reflective work that balances grief, memory and moments of quiet beauty. Audiences will also experience the Australian premiere of Grammy Award-winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds, a dynamic work for piano and strings that evolves from a simple musical idea into something richly layered and energetic.
Closing the evening is Franz Schubert’s celebrated Death and the Maiden, presented in Gustav Mahler’s powerful chamber orchestra arrangement. Widely regarded as one of the most emotionally charged works in the classical repertoire, it provides a dramatic finale to a program exploring memory, imagination and human emotion.
Omega Ensemble Artistic Director David Rowden said the program explores the deeply personal worlds that music can reveal.
“Inner Landscapes is a program about the private worlds we carry within us — memory, grief, imagination, and the search for beauty through uncertainty,” he said.
For more information, please visit:https://www.omegaensemble.com.au/inner-landscapes.
