This superlative ensemble always offers exhilarating performances and kicks off their 2026 season with a stellar fanfare. Australia ‘s most dynamic chamber group excited the audience with a line-up that featured guest artist trumpet virtuoso, David Elton. Shostakovich’s works reigned supreme enthralling the aficionados that packed the wonderful Sydney Recital Hall.
Grammy award-winner Jessie Montgomery featuring her dynamic performing style and pioneering 20th century composer Gerald Finzi premiered the Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth’s new double concerto for clarinet and trumpet, A Turning Sky.
David Elton, the principal trumpeter for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, known for his soaring eclecticism and stunning refinement, was in top form tonight. He has performed with the world’s finest orchestras, from the London Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, added to which he serves as an educator with the Royal College of Music, London and the Australian National Academy. His pedigree is as robust as his mercurial playing.Stepping into the spotlight as a soloist, while joining Elton on stage, was Omega Ensemble’s charismatic principal pianist, Vatche Jambazian, who tore through his pieces with the verve of someone possessed, his body melting and melding with the piano with a passion that resonated with the already ignited audience.
He plays, in a visually interesting, non-ergonomic style, somewhat askew to the rigid style of pianists. The force and dexterity of his fingers on the ivory, was mesmerising, titillating and energising. The pair performed Shostakovich’s daring Concerto No.1 for piano, trumpet and strings, a whirlwind of classical fanfare, jazz-hall swagger and streetwise energy inspired by the works of Stravinsky and Hindemith.
Following the resounding response from the enthralled audience, acclaimed clarinettist and Omega Ensemble’s Artistic Director David Rowden performed Gerald Finzi’s lyrical clarinet concerto, a 20th century masterpiece of tender beauty and pastoral serenity. Starburst also featured a genre-bending work for strings combining folk, jazz and classical threads into a vibrant, pulsating fanfare beloved worldwide, and certainly by the audience present.
The program concluded with the presentation by Rowden and Elton of Lachlan Skipworth’s world premiere of a double concerto for clarinet and trumpet, A Turning Sky, written specifically for the pair featuring a dazzling interplay between the two solo instruments which radiated textures and rhythmic drive.
Lachlan ‘s double concerto embodied the spirit moving from sweet, singable melodies to dazzling, colourful flourishes that allowed the instruments and the ensemble to truly shine. With its great mix of Shostakovich, Finzi and Montgomery, this was a riveting night of music ensconced with one of Australia’s most dynamic music groups, enjoying these new musical expressions.
The concert took place at the City Recital Hall Angel Place on Thursday 12th February.
Following on from this concert, the Omega Ensemble is playing the Newcastle City Hall on Thursday 13th February, and the Melbourne Recital Hall on Wednesday 18th February 2026.
