Romantic
Visions
What’s On
Master Series
Virtuoso Series
Master Series
Songs from
the Bush
Schubert’s
Trout
Beethoven’s
Quintet
Busoni Suite for Clarinet and
String Quartet in G minor
Schubert Piano Quintet in
A major, Op. 114 ‘The Trout’
Nielsen Wind Quintet, Op. 43
Meurant Concertino for
Clarinet and Strings [World
Premiere]
Schubert Octet in F major,
D. 803
Hindemith Kleine
Kammermusik for Wind
Quintet, Op. 24, No. 2
Françaix Quartet for Winds
Mozart String Quartet No. 17
‘The Hunt’, K. 458
Beethoven Quintet in E flat
major for Piano and Winds,
Op. 16
Munro Clarinet Quintet
‘Songs from the Bush’
Date and Time
Date and Time
Date and Time
Sunday 7 May, 2:30pm
Thursday 27 July, 7:30pm
Sunday 8 October, 2:30pm
Venue
Venue
Venue
Utzon Room,
Sydney Opera House
City Recital Hall
Utzon Room,
Sydney Opera House
Bookings
Bookings
Bookings
sydneyoperahouse.com
02 9250 7777
cityrecitalhall.com
02 8256 2222
sydneyoperahouse.com
02 9250 7777
Romantic
Visions
Wednesday 5 April 2017, 7.30pm
City Recital Hall
Cimarosa
Concerto for Clarinet and Strings
15 mins
Rachmaninoff
Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor
16 mins
Interval (20 mins)
Beethoven
Septet in E flat major, Op. 20
45 mins
Cover Image, Maria Raspopova. Credit: Bruce Terry
The Ensemble
Omega Ensemble shines a light on
outstanding musicians, giving every
instrument its own voice.
Founded in 2005, Omega Ensemble
initially performed in churches and fast
became one of Australia’s finest and
most lauded chamber groups. Its mission
is to showcase outstanding artists who
captivate and excite audiences through
a revelatory program of chamber
music. With a dedication to engaging
the finest Australian musicians, as well
as international guest artists, Omega
presents outstanding musicians in an
intimate and stimulating chamber setting.
Omega Ensemble is unique in that
the combination of musicians varies
for each concert. Ranging from full
chamber orchestra to duos it constantly
provides a fresh and invigorating musical
experience, captivating audiences.
Omega’s players pride themselves
on performing a diverse range of
repertoire; whether it is an iconic gem, a
neglected beauty or a brand new work,
their passion and commitment to the
highest level of craft is still deployed. For
audiences, a performance by Omega
touches mind, heart and spirit.
composers, including Daniel Rojas
(Hard Boiled Overture), Mark Isaacs
(Chamber Symphony No. 2), Cyrus
Meurant (Eventide Visions), George
Palmer, Elena Kats-Chernin, Anne
Boyd, Matthew Hindson, Christopher
Gordon, John Peterson, Margery Smith,
Stuart Greenbaum, Paul Stanhope, Ben
Hoadley, and their latest world premiere,
Contradance by acclaimed composer,
author and music journalist Andrew Ford.
As well as performing a diverse range of
well-known and loved repertoire, Omega
Ensemble’s programming includes works
that have been lost to time. Omega’s
ability to find these pieces and bring
them to life spells out a deep love and
passion not only for well-known chamber
music, but also for exploring gems
that delight, entertain and enrich their
audiences.
Omega’s innovative approach to concert
repertoire and programming is further
enhanced by Omega On Demand, in
which audiences can relive the magic of
a live performance. Beyond these videos,
Omega Ensemble’s performances are
now included as part of Qantas’s inflight
entertainment.
To date, the Omega Ensemble has
commissioned and performed over
twenty new works that demonstrate
a Who’s Who roster of Australian
4
Romantic Visions
David
Rowden
Maria
Raspopova
David Rowden was born in Sydney and
studied clarinet from a young age. He
was awarded a scholarship to study
at the Royal Academy of Music where
he won the Geoffrey Hawkes Prize for
clarinet performance. David also studied
in Italy with Anthony Pay and in France
with Paul Meyer.
Maria Raspopova is an acclaimed and
virtuosic chamber musician and recitalist.
She is the Co-Artistic Director of Omega
Ensemble, and has performed with a
number of acclaimed musicians.
Co-Artistic Director
Since returning to Sydney David has
performed as a freelance orchestral
musician with the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra, the Australian Opera and
Ballet Orchestra and many others, as well
as being Guest Principal Clarinet with the
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 he
was a finalist in the ABC Young Performer
of the Year Awards. From 2013-2014
David curated the House Music series at
Government House.
In 2005 David founded the Omega
Ensemble where he has overseen the
growth of the organisation since. In 2016
David was elected an Associate of the
Royal Academy of Music and he recently
appeared on the 50th Anniversary DVD
of Australia’s iconic children’s program,
Play School. 2016 saw David record
with Omega Ensemble alongside Dimitri
Ashkenazy performing George Palmer’s
Clarinet Concerto, It Takes Two, on
Omega’s debut album.
Wednesday 5 April 2017
Co-Artistic Director
Maria began learning the piano at a
young age in Russia. At seventeen she
moved to Australia with her family and
soon commenced studies at Sydney
Conservatorium of Music where her
teachers were Gerard Willems and Philip
Shovk. Since returning to Australia, Maria
has recorded and performed recitals in
Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. During
the past few years she performed at
both the Art Gallery of New South Wales
and in the Government House Music
series with acclaimed soprano Emma
Matthews. With Omega Ensemble she
has also performed in a number of newly
commissioned Australian works.
Maria has received wide acclaim for her
performances with Omega Ensemble.
Most recently she performed SaintSaens’ Septet to a standing-ovation and
received wide-spread positive reviews.
Recently Maria performed Mahler’s’
Piano Quintet in A Minor at City Recital
Hall which also received positive press.
5
Musicians
Natsuko Yoshimoto
Violin
Veronique Serret
Violin
Neil Thompson
Viola
Svetlana
Bogosavljevic
Cello
Alex Henery
Double Bass
David Rowden
Clarinet
Rebecca Allen
Bassoon
Maria Raspopova
Piano
Michael Dixon
Horn
For full biographies, On Demand videos and featured interviews with all our
2017 musicians, visit omegaensemble.com.au/ensemble
6
Romantic Visions
Meet the Musician
Natsuko Yoshimoto, Violin
anything that could happen, musically.
You must have such a clear musical idea
yourself so that your fellow musicians can
understand what you are trying to do. At
the same time, you must be open to them
and their ideas. To see this interaction,
whether it’s eye contact or a head nod,
is a fascinating sight and you can learn a
lot about communication from it.
Could you tell us about one of your most
memorable musical experiences?
When did you first start playing the violin
and can you tell us a little bit about your
instrument?
I started playing when I was three years
old. My mother had it in her mind that
her first born would play the violin and
she always sat in on my practise sessions
so I couldn’t get away with not doing
it. In hindsight, I think this was a good
thing. My instrument is a Niccolò Amati
violin dating from 1650. I fell in love with
it from the first moment I played it. It
is a privilege to be the ‘keeper’ of the
instrument until the next person takes it
on another journey.
What do you love most about performing
chamber music?
Chamber music is about interaction,
responding, listening and being open to
Wednesday 5 April 2017
It was a performance of Mozart’s Oboe
Quartet with one of the most amazing
musicians in the world, Heinz Holliger Just
listening to all the insightful things he had
to say about the music was a marvellous,
eye-opening experience.
What do you enjoy most about working
with Omega Ensemble?
Omega Ensemble’s programming is
always eclectic and interesting, often
including a world-premiere. I always
enjoying working on new music and
working with the composer directly is
great as you get such insight into the
piece. Old works set with new works
is great as they highlight each other.
Playing alongside wonderful musicians
whose focus is producing the best music
and the best performance is also a great
experience.
Visit omegaensemble.com.au for more.
7
Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)
Concerto for Clarinet and Strings
Domenico Cimarosa was just seven when
his father, a mason, fell from scaffolding
during the construction of a Naples’
palace and subsequently died. To support
the family his mother began doing
laundry at the local monastery, while the
attached school took Cimarosa on as
a student. Cimarosa’s intelligence soon
attracted the attention of the monastery’s
organist, Father Polcano, who initiated
his musical education and after several
years supported his protégé’s scholarship
application to one of Naples’ top
conservatoires.
is known about the almost 90 singlemovement keyboard sonatas Cimarosa
composed, although it has been
hypothesized that they were written for
pedagogical purposes, as many focus
on a specific musical ‘problem’. In 1942,
Australian composer Arthur Benjamin
selected four of Cimarosa’s sonatas as
the basis for a concerto for oboe and
strings, and its later adaptation for
clarinet. Charming and elegant, this set of
movements presents a microcosm of the
inventive lyricism that fuelled Cimarosa’s
success in much larger-scale forms.
From these humble beginnings, Cimarosa
soon became one of his generation’s
best-known composers. His first opera
was performed when he was just 23
and Cimarosa later held a series of
prestigious and well-remunerated
musical posts including Court Composer
for Catherine the Great in Russia
and Kapellmeister to the Holy Roman
Emperor.
Cimarosa is now remembered primarily
for his substantial contribution to opera;
his other works, including the sonatas
on which this concerto is based, have
been largely ignored. In fact, very little
8
Romantic Visions
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor
(1892)
Rachmaninoff had already developed a
distinctive voice – an emotional intensity
shaped by sweeping melodic contours
and coloured with rich harmonies – when
he wrote this trio at the age of 19.
Cast in a single movement, the work
moves through a series of 12 episodes
– which, in groups of four, comprise
the work’s exposition, development
and recapitulation. The mournful
opening theme is presented first by the
piano before being passed to the cello
then violin. It is then set against an
increasingly dramatic backdrop before
the piano introduces a second, more
meditative theme. The development runs
through a spectrum of emotions leading
to a climactic restatement of the main
theme, before the opening material
returns and a solemn march concludes
the work.
first piano concerto), the unusual form,
and the concluding funeral march. But
Tchaikovsky was in good health when
this work was created and it is more
likely written in homage than in early
mourning. Two years later, however,
when Tchaikovsky passed away following
a sudden illness at the age of 52,
Rachmaninoff did write a second elegiac
trio, this time a work of true lament.
A number of critics have suggested that
this trio was written as an early elegy for
Rachmaninoff’s older friend and mentor,
Tchaikovsky. And audiences familiar
with that composer’s work likely have
picked up various respectful allusions including the main theme (a reversal of
the opening theme from Tchaikovsky’s
Wednesday 5 April 2017
9
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Septet in E flat major, Op. 20
(1799)
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Adagio — Allegro con brio
Adagio cantabile
Tempo di Minuetto
Tema con Variazioni: Andante
Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace
Andante con moto alla Marcia — Presto
Fifteen years after this septet’s premiere,
following yet another celebrated
performance, Beethoven is said to have
declared “That damn work; I wish it could
be burned”.
Although the septet significantly boosted
Beethoven’s reputation as a composer
and increased his standing with
publishers, he eventually came to resent
its enormous popularity, feeling that it
took attention away from his later, more
deserving works.
At the time it was written, the work broke
new ground with its original scoring
and unconventional exploration of the
relationship between the winds and
strings. Rather than the customary
pairing of wind instruments used in
chamber music at the time, Beethoven
wrote for clarinet, horn and bassoon,
violin, viola, cello and double bass:
a combination that was adopted as
standard instrumentation by the next
generation of composers.
melodies of the second movement,
arching over a steadily pulsing
accompaniment. Two dance movements
– a minuet and a scherzo – frame the
fourth movement, a set of variations on
a Rhenish folk song that showcases each
instrument in turn. The final movement,
with its mock solemn opening, quickly
dissolves into a sparkling, playful
celebration of the virtuosic skills of both
the composer and the performers.
With its light-hearted energy, abundant
musical jokes and scintillating
instrumental dialogues, it is not hard to
see why the septet so charmed audiences
in Vienna in the 1800s, and remains a firm
favourite today.
The six-movement work is neatly
symmetrical, with slow introductions to
both the first and last movements. The
clarinet and violin share the exquisite
10
Romantic Visions
Encore.
The concert hall is never empty with
Omega On Demand. Relive hours
of beautiful music and inspiring
performances in the comfort of your
home or on your mobile device.
omegaensemble.com.au/ondemand
Wednesday 5 April 2017
11
Support
Omega Ensemble is honoured to be supported by our generous
patrons. All donations go towards enabling Omega Ensemble to
continue to produce and perform outstanding chamber music.
As we continue to develop our Patrons' Program, we strive to show
our gratitude to those who support us by offering unique and exciting
opportunities to enjoy Omega Ensemble's music.
For more information on ways to support Omega Ensemble or
becoming a Patron, visit omegaensemble.com.au/support
Patrons
$20,000+
Mrs Kerry Jones
Mr Michael Crouch AO and Mrs Shanny Crouch
Mr & Mrs Bruce and Mary Anne Terry
Anonymous (1)
$5,000 +
Mr and Mrs Terry and
Kyril Agnew
Mr Steven Alward and
Mr Mark Wakely
Mr & Mrs Steve and
Maggie Banks
Mrs W.G.Keighley – In
memory of Keighley Quist
Mr & Mrs Diccon and
Liz Loxton
12
The Hon. Jane Mathews AO
The Hon. George
Palmer AM QC
Ms Petrina Slaytor
Professor John Snowdon AM
and Mrs Libby Snowdon
Dr Anthony White AM and
Mrs Doffy White
Mr Cameron Williams
Anonymous (1)
$1,000 +
Emeritus Professor Christine
Alexander and the late
Professor Peter Alexander
Mr Andrew Andersons AO
Ms Erica Booker
Mr & Mrs Roberto and
Ofelia Brozky
Mr Bradford & Dr Jenny Burke
Mr & Mrs Alan and
Phillippa Clark
Romantic Visions
Mr Bernard Coles
Mr & Mrs David and
Virginia Creer
Mr & Mrs Hugh and
Frances Dixson
Ms Sarah Dunn
Mr David Emanuel
Mr & Mrs Bruce and
Alison Handmer
Mr & Mrs George and
Sandra Woods
Dr & Mrs Roger and
Janet Donbavand
Anonymous (7)
Professor Zoltán H Endre
$500 +
Ms Anita Austin
Mr Craig Brush
Mr Wayne Burns
Mr & Mrs Simon and
Wendy Hardy
Mr Rodney Clark
Mr Randell Heyman
Mr & Mrs Charles and
Anne Edmondson
Mr & Mrs Alex and
Libby Jones
Mr & Mrs John and
Jo-Ann Negrine
Ms Karen O’Flynn
Drs Keith and Eileen Ong
Mr & Mrs Adrian and
Dairneen Pilton
Ms Jenny Quist
In Memory of Katherine
Robertson
Mr Mark Dempsey SC
Drs Russ and Virginia
Hancock
Drs Michael and
Louise Jamieson
Mr & Mrs Chris and
Ingrid Latham
Mr Ian Latham
Mr & Mrs Richard and
Alison Morgan
Mrs Tessa Phillips
Ms Victoria Harper
Mr Matthew Hegarty
Mr & Mrs Robert and
Jocelyn Hellyer
Ms Nadine Helmi
Mr Geoff Hogbin
Ms Sandra Hutcheson
Mr & Mrs Matthias and
Julie Inhelder
Mr Adrian Ireland
Ms Anne Knight
Ms Alison McIntyre
Ms Rossie Ogilvie
Mr Terrance Plowright
Mr & Mrs Tom and
Dalia Stanley
Dr & Mrs Andrew and
Ann Soddy
Mr Shane Simpson AM
Mr & Mrs Max and J
osette Staples
Lady Heather Rossiter
Ms Lyn Reynolds
Mr David Sidebottom
Mr Philip Stern
Mr John Sydney Smith and
Ms Nola Charles
Mr Mark Tedeschi SC and
Ms Sharon Tofler
Professor Gillian Straker &
Ms Nellie Robertson
Mr and Mrs Chris and
Pat Wetherall
Mr Hugh Vaughan
Mr & Mrs Victor and
Ann Sutherland
Emeritus Professor David
Wilcken and Professor
Anonymous (5)
The Suttie Family
Mrs Lindsay Wanstall
Dr Geoff and
Mrs Renee Symonds
Bridget Wilcken AM
Dr Jenepher Thomas
Anonymous (1)
Dr & Mrs John and
Hilary Walsh
Mr Geoffrey White OAM
Dr Nicholas Wilcken
Mr Gerard Willems AM and
Ms Eva Frey
Mr Kim Williams AM
Wednesday 5 April 2017
Ms Sandy Williams
Mr Billy Wong
Dr Sylvia Yeung
Justice David Yates
$250 +
Mr & Mrs Gary and
Joanna Barnes
The Hon A/Judge Jennifer
Boland AM
Dr Danielle Chiel
13
Supporters
Principal Partner
Major Partner
Presenting Partner (Lunch Series)
Print Partner
Educational Partner
Media Partner (Virtuoso Series)
Media Partner (Master Series)
Wine Partner
Champagne Partner
Music Partner
Regional Partner
Accommodation Partner
Supporters
Acknowledgments
Our Vision
Omega Ensemble
Board
To enrich life through a
deeper understanding of
music.
34 Centennial Avenue
Randwick NSW 2031
Robert Titterton,
Chairman
Omega Ensemble ACN 40 120 304 725
is listed on the Australian Government’s
Register of Cultural Organisations
maintained under Subdivision 30-B of
Part 2-1 of the Income Tax Assessment
Act 1997 (Cth).
Bruce Terry, Treasurer
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#omega2017
David Rowden
Maria Raspopova
Team
Patron
Simone Young am
Marketing Manager
Belinda Shiavone
Ambassador
Gerard Willems am
Administrator
Stephen Bydder
Researcher
Rhiannon Cook
Acknowledgment of Country
Omega Ensemble acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which we
perform. We pay respect to the Elders both past and present, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Australians.
Brochure Design: Viqtor Studio, viqtor.com.au
Photography: Bruce Terry
Program Notes: Rhiannon Cook
Additional Notes: Samuel Cottell
Details published in this publication, including dates, prices, artist and venue information are correct at the time of publishing.
Omega Ensemble reserves the right to vary, substitute or withdraw advertised programs, artists and venues. For up to date
performance and artist details, please visit omegaensemble.com.au. The publisher does not take responsibility for any changes to
fees, booking details or other changes made by ticketing agents or performance venues after the time of publication.
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