Omega Ensemble

Omega Ensemble was established in 2005 by clarinetist David Rowden, who had then just returned to Australia after studying at the Royal Academy of Music. 

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 and possibly never heard until beautifully delivered by Omega and their world class musicians. Their ability to find these pieces and bring them to life spells their deep love and passion not only for well-known chamber music, but for exploring gems that delight, entertain and enrich their audiences on every occasion.

This campaign has come about based on the opportunity to produce Omega's debut album with ABC Classics.  

This album will be a collaboration between Omega Ensemble and Dimitri Ashkenazy - with a performance of a piece composed by George Palmer - It Takes Two, a concerto for two clarinets. 

The album will also feature Omega Ensemble performing Ian Munro’s beautiful Clarinet Quintet Songs from the Bush as well as Mozart Clarinet Quintet, with David Rowden performing on the Basset Clarinet as Mozart originally intended.

Help make this opportunity come to life by supporting this campaign.

Dimitri Ashkenazy

George Palmer

David Rowden

Repertoire and Artists:

• George Palmer’s Concerto for Two Clarinets -  "Its Takes Two" (Commissioned by Omega Ensemble in 2008)
  Soloists: Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet) and David Rowden (clarinet)
  Andrew Haveron (violin), Ike See (violin), Neil Thompson (viola), Paul Stender (cello), Jaan Pallandi (double bass), Lisa Osmialowski (flute), Josh Oates (oboe), Ben Hoadley (bassoon), Michael Dixon (horn)
• Ian Munro’s Clarinet Quintet "Songs From the Bush":
  David Rowden (clarinet), Catalin Ungureanu (violin), Airena Nakamura (violin), James Wannan (viola) and Paul Stender (cello)
• Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, K.581:
  David Rowden (basset clarinet), Catalin Ungureanu (violin), Airena Nakamura (violin), James Wannan (viola) and Paul Stender (cello)

Omega Ensemble will use the funds raised by this project to pay the musicians for their time spent rehearsing and recording.  

The ABC will provide a substantial contribution to the project covering all production associated costs including the hire of the recording space, the sound engineer and production of the album artwork (approx $15,000). They are not able to cover musicians' costs and for this project the musician costs are approximately $20,000. 

The project requires 15 musicians in total, including 9 musicians and two soloists for the Double Concerto by George Palmer.  

We have already received either pledges or the promise of contributions from our generous board and some of our Patrons. For this campaign we are looking for the remaining $10,000. 

$10,000 is the MINIMUM amount required to make this project viable. 

Our challenge is to raise these funds in a short amount of time, with the deadline of 8 August which would be when we need to kick the project off. We hope to do the final recording and fine tuning on 28 September and then release the CD on 3 November at our concert at the City Recital Hall. 

So the challenge is on ! We need you to act quickly. Let's Make this Happen.