In Omega Ensemble’s compelling performance of Howl, the title proved far more than a provocation. Expressive vocal techniques — the holler, the moan, the ritualistic wail — became central musical languages. Placed side by side, works by Missy Mazzoli, Anna Meredith, Daniel Wohl, Pierre Jalbert, and Danny Elfman summoned something ancient and untamed beneath the polished surface of contemporary classical music.
The program opened with shorter, more intimate works that immediately expanded the boundaries of the genre. Missy Mazzoli’s Tooth and Nail (2010), performed with riveting focus by violist Neil Thompson, drew on the sound of the Uzbek jaw-harp. Thompson coaxed the amplified viola into sounding like it was mouthing its notes, using precise bowing and muting techniques to generate buzzing overtones and melodic fragments. Thompson played in counterpoint to a dense electronic tapestry of pre-recorded viola samples, creating a compelling dialogue.
Anna Meredith’s Tuggemo, an Australian premiere, delivered a burst of clubbing energy, complete with pulsing light show. Scored for two violins, viola, cello and drum machine, the work (whose title is an archaic English word for a swarm) evoked the chaotic beauty of flocking birds through swooping, syncopated lines. Meredith’s fusion of techno-inspired song forms with live strings produced a thrilling build-up and a massive bass-dominant “drop”. Omega Ensemble’s precision and obvious joy in the groove made the hybrid feel entirely natural.
Daniel Wohl’s Interference Patterns, also an Australian premiere, shifted the mood into a shimmering three-movement soundscape. Using the ensemble’s full flexibility, Wohl created changing sonic patterns that mirrored our immersion in a constant flow of information and noise. Violins carried a fragile lyrical line before the material looped back on itself, distorting into sirens, horns and fractured harmonics. Passages seemed to play forwards then backwards, intensity surging and receding until the music gently dissolved into silence.
At the heart of the evening was Pierre Jalbert’s Howl (2014), a three-movement work for clarinet and string quartet inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem. Artistic Director David Rowden gave a commanding, virtuosic performance, switching seamlessly between clarinet and bass clarinet. The clarinet took centre stage with long, vocal-like lines, creating thrilling friction and call-and-response with the driving strings. Minimalist at its core, the music often morphed into a dark, propulsive tango, subtly nodding to the jazz world that helped immortalise Ginsberg and the Beats.
The program closed with Danny Elfman’s Piano Quartet (2017), originally commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic. In Omega’s smaller configuration the work’s dramatic contrasts emerged with even sharper clarity. Pianist Vatch Jambazian was outstanding, bringing authority to the complex piano part. Elfman blended the modernist intensity of Shostakovich (an influence also heard in his Violin Concerto Eleven Eleven) with the Impressionistic style of Ravel and Debussy, creating a contrast between innocence, beauty and darker forms with jagged edges.
The outstanding performance was delivered with conviction and precision by Omega Ensemble’s musicians: Artistic Director David Rowden (clarinet), violinists Mark Ingwersen and Amira Woodward-Page, violist Neil Thompson, cellist Paul Stender, and pianist Vatch Jambazian.
Omega Ensemble’s presentation of these works highlighted the rich fruits of their Co-LAB development program, reaffirming Omega Ensemble’s strong commitment to nurturing bold new Australian contemporary music
2026 performance images by Gxbriellemxry
