Eleven young musicians on a mission to redefine the city’s classical chamber music landscape joined together in 2005 to form the Sydney Omega Ensemble. Their performances have received enthusiastic acclaim from audiences and reviewers alike, and continue to be broadcast around Australia on ABC Classic FM.
Drawing on its core members and regular guests, Omega performs the gamut of ensemble possibilities, duos, trios, to octets and more, in programs of “classical” and “contemporary classical” music. In The Sydney Morning Herald in 2006, David Vance welcomed Omega as a new force in Sydney chamber music that “has at its disposal a vast chamber repertoire, old and new”.
The group was identified early for its commitment to new Australian music, its 2007 performance of Inferno by Sydney composer-performer Margery Smith being nominated for the “Best Performance of an Australian Composition” in the APRA/AMC Classical Music Awards.
It has also introduced new international talent to Sydney, and special guests in past seasons have included clarinettists Dimitri Ashkenazy, who made his Australian debut with Omega in 2007, and Mark van de Weil in 2010.
During the last five years, the ensemble has presented its own concerts across a range of Sydney venues, including Sydney Conservatorium, the Art Gallery of NSW, North Sydney’s Independent, and City Recital Hall Angel Place. It has also participated in education workshops, and fund-raising events for St. Vincents Hospital, the Garvan Institute, and Multiple Sclerosis.
Omega’s dedicated audience has grown steadily over its five seasons, with sold out concerts at Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Room in 2010.
Masterpiece highlights of the past season’s concerts included performances of Beethoven’s Septet, and Mozart’s sublime Gran Partita, along with new Australian works by Matthew Hindson and George Palmer. After each concert, audience members welcome the chance to mix with the musicians.
The players continue their advocacy of the latest music in 2011, with premieres from work by Australian composers Paul Stanhope, Elena Kats-Chernin, and Daniel McCallum.
This season, the ensemble again presents its own season at the Utzon Room, makes its first tour into regional NSW, and will appear by invitation for ABC Classic FM and the AGNSW’s Resonate series.
PLAYERS
Emma Sholl - Flute
Shefali Pryor - Oboe
David Rowden - Clarinet
Matthew Ockenden - Bassoon
Euan Harvey - Horn
Katie Betts - Violin
Emily Long - Violin
Jacqueline Cronin - Viola
Rowena Crouch - Cello
PATRON
Fr Arthur E Bridge OAM AM
BOARD MEMBERS
Robert Titterton - Chairman
David Rowden - Artistic Director
Katie Betts
Rosalind Ogilvie
Bruce Terry
ADMINISTRATOR
Stephen Bydder
SYDNEY OMEGA ENSEMBLE’S MISSION
Our mission is to present high quality, challenging and exciting musical works drawn from the large corpus of chamber music repertoire.