INNER LANDSCAPES to Tour Australia with Omega Ensemble

Omega Ensemble will present Inner Landscapes, a four-city tour to Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney and Penrith, featuring the world premiere of a new work by award-winning Australian conductor Paul Stanhope from Saturday 11th to Thursday 16th July.

In four performances at Newcastle City Hall (July 11th), Melbourne Recital Hall (July 13th), City Recital Hall, Sydney (July 15th) and The Joan Penrith (July 16th), Australia's most dynamic chamber group presents works by Corigliano, Schubert, and Stanhope, alongside the Australian premiere of Grammy Award-winning American composer Jessie Montgomery.

Opening with John Corigliano's tender Soliloquy — an elegy of reflection and restraint, carrying the weight of memory while seeking solace in beauty and stillness — this performance also includes the Australian premiere of Jessie Montgomery's Grammy Award-winning Rounds for piano and strings, starting with a single repeating idea that spirals into intricate motion.

In a world premiere, Australian composer Paul Stanhope brings lyrical depth and human vitality to his first Clarinet Concerto 'Paludarium Dreams' written in his trademark style of poetic narrative and musical invention.

On this new work, Paul Stanhope said, “My new Clarinet Concerto is written in response to the vitality and natural abundance of the natural world around Sydney Harbour. 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.”

Mirroring the composer's own inner turmoil, Franz Schubert's stirring String Quartet No. 14, “Death and the Maiden” has long captured the imagination of listeners with its thrilling climaxes, tortured freneticism and darkly romantic source material.

In an expanded setting for chamber orchestra arranged by the formidable Gustav Mahler, this seminal work leads a program that ventures into intimate inner worlds, exploring shifting terrains of emotion and memory.

Omega Ensemble's Artistic Director David Rowden said, “Inner Landscapes is a program about the private worlds we carry within us — memory, grief, imagination, and the search for beauty through uncertainty. From Corigliano's quiet introspection to Montgomery's exhilarating sense of motion, and from the world premiere of Paul Stanhope's deeply expressive Clarinet Concerto to the raw emotional force of Schubert's Death and the Maiden, this is music that speaks directly to the inner life. It is also a very special program for me personally, bringing a major new Australian clarinet concerto into the world alongside works of extraordinary emotional depth.”

PROGRAM

John Corigliano Soliloquy
Franz Schubert String Quartet No. 14, “Death and the Maiden” Arranged by Gustav Mahler
Jessie Montgomery Rounds Australian Premiere
Paul Stanhope New Commission World Premiere

*Paul Stanhope is commissioned by Omega Ensemble with the generous support of Ian Plater and Anonymous - In memory of Robert Veel

ARTISTS

David Rowden solo clarinet
Vatche Jambazian solo piano
Omega Ensemble

DATES AND TIMES

Newcastle City Hall
290 King St, Newcastle NSW 2300
Saturday July 11th, 7:00pm
Tickets from $64.00 Under 30s $39.00

Melbourne Recital Hall
31 Sturt St, Southbank VIC 3006
Monday July 13th, 7:00pm
Tickets from $64.00 Under 30s $39.00

City Recital Hall
2 Angel Pl, Sydney NSW 2000
Wednesday July 15th, 7:00pm
Tickets from $64.00 Under 30s $39.00