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Omega Ensemble’s Échappsodie Includes A World Premiere
February 17 @ 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Omega Ensemble presents Échappsodie, a French inspired program named after a piece by Paris-based Australian composer Alice Chance, which will receive its world premiere on this tour.
On the program are Claude Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie, Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quintet No. 1 and Chance’s Échappsodie in a new arrangement by the composer, commissioned by Omega Ensemble.
French musical Impressionist, Claude Debussy’s music is an extraordinary palette of colour, beauty and innovation. Commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire, Première Rhapsodie was first ʻsolo de concoursʼ (competition solo) to test the virtuosic abilities of students, but it has since graduated to a work of significance performed by leading clarinetists. Gabriel Fauré’s richly textured Piano Quintet No. 1 is an expressive work that represents a critical change in French music. Exhibiting a near orchestral sound, the quintet is noted for its soloistic writing, for each player through three stormy and cathartic movements. A rising star in Australia and current home in Paris, Alice Chance’s Échappsodie is a play on words using the French ʻéchapperʼ meaning ʻto escapeʼ and takes fragments of Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie and reconstructs them into a captivating exploration of virtuosity, beauty and colour.
The program: CLAUDE DEBUSSY Première Rhapsodie/ GABRIEL FAURÉ Piano Quintet No. 1/ ALICE CHANCE Échappsodie (World Premiere)
The performers: David Rowden, clarinet & Artistic Director/ Peter Clark, violin/Natalia Harvey, violin/Neil Thompson, viola/Paul Stender, cello/Vatche Jambazian, piano
Two performances.