The Sydney Omega Ensemble and Gerard Willems Play Wind and Piano Works by Jolivet, Beethoven and New Australian Music by Luke Styles by Andrew Miller

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André Jolivet at the Dresden home of a flutist friend after a concert. Photo from www.jolivet.asso.fr

Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House: 19 February, 2012
This program repeats at the Springwood Civic Centre for the Blue Mountains Concert Society on 26 February

Luke Styles - Shimmers
André Jolivet - Sérénade for Wind Quintet
Beethoven - Piano Sonata no. 14 in C♯ Minor, opus 27 no. 2
Beethoven - Quintet for Piano and Wind, opus 16

Sydney Omega Ensemble
David Rowden - clarinet
Emma Sholl - flute
Shefali Pryor - oboe
Matthew Ockenden - bassoon
Euan Harvey - horn

Gerard Willems - piano

The Sydney Omega Ensemble, as fairly young musicians, though with three members of the SSO's wind section, in no way without experience, with help from the non-profit Ars Musica Australis, enjoys commissioning and playing new pieces from young Australian composers. They do so in many of their concerts, taking the tactic of mixing them in a program with traditional composers, rather than the all-together contemporary music festival approach. Even if the new pieces are only short, it obviously adds variety for the audience and players and fills in some of the difficult gap between conservatory student concerts and festivals and the commissions of more established composers by Musica Viva (for new chamber music) and the SSO, Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian Ballet, etc. for new orchestral works, the orchestral works usually coming from the same handful of Australian composers. So it is a valuable little institution David Rowden, the Ensemble's artistic director, founder and clarinetist, and company have run over the past few years.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!