Enlightened

Omega Ensemble are pulling out all the stops for their upcoming performance Enlightened. Not only are they collaborating with the prestigious Australian National Academy of Music, but are also joined by renowned French conductor Paul Meyer and principal cellist of the Australian Chamber Orchestra Timo-Veikko Valve.

It will be their largest and most ambitious collaboration to date, allowing Omega Ensemble to play some of the greatest and most technically difficult chamber symphonies.

Artistic director and clarinettist David Rowden is particularly excited for John Adams’ Chamber Symphony. “It’s very virtuosic, very difficult for every individual player to get it all right and then all right together,” he says.

“The story goes, in the final movement, Adams was listening to his son watching Roadrunner, the cartoon, and was inspired by it. So it’s quite frenetic.”

For Omega Ensemble, who have just become the ensemble in residence, it’s a great honour to play at “arguably the finest concert hall in Australia”.

“The atmosphere and the acoustics in the recital hall, it’s the best hall I’ve ever played in. You can play the softest note possible and it can be heard in the back row,” says Rowden.

Wherever they are sitting, Rowden promises audiences will be “overwhelmed by the music they hear”. Enlightened is sure to be an enlightening experience. (MT)

June 7, City Recital Hall, 2-12 Angel Pl, Sydney, $65, (02) 8256 2222, cityrecitalhall.com