Founder, Artistic Director & Clarinetist
Ross Edwards & David Rowden
Winner: Performance of the Year - Notated Composition was awarded to Omega Ensemble and Dr Lou Bennett AM for their performance of Dr Lou Bennett AM’s work nyernur, nyarkur - to see, to hear at the APRA AMCOZ Art Music Awards 2023
David Rowden is an internationally recognised professional clarinetist based in Sydney. With a career spanning twenty years, David has performed in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. David’s playing has attracted excellent reviews from the press: his performances have been described as displaying “superb technique and artistry” (Limelight Magazine, 2018), and as being “expressive, accurate and nuanced” (International Clarinet Association, 2016).
William Barton and David Rowden
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London (2005), David founded the Omega Ensemble, a leading Australian chamber music organisation that presents classical music for a contemporary Australia. David is currently artistic director of the organisation and over the past eighteen years has initiated the commissioning and performance of over sixty new works for the Ensemble by composers Nico Muhly, Christopher Cerrone, Caroline Shaw, Gabriel Prokofiev, Ross Edwards AM, Elena Kats-Chernin AM, Lou Bennett AM, William Barton and Carl Vine AO.
In 2016, David was awarded an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for his significant contribution to the music profession.
Omega Ensemble perform at the 2023 APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards
David Rowden & The Hon Ben Franklin MLC (Minister for the Arts)
David’s career has included performing solo, chamber and orchestral repertoire in prestigious venues and festivals worldwide including the Sydney Opera House, City Recital Hall (Sydney), Castlemaine Festival (Victoria), Newcastle Art Gallery, the Melbourne Recital Centre as well as at Juilliard School of Music (New York), the Royal Albert Hall (London) and the Beijing Central Conservatory (China). David’s performances are featured regularly on ABC Classic radio station broadcast nationally.
In 2001, David was offered scholarships to study at the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music. On completion of his degree at the Royal Academy of Music, David won the coveted Geoffrey Hawkes Prize for Clarinet Performance in 2004. David has studied with world-leading clarinet soloists and awarded scholarships to attend summer schools at the Longy School of Music, (Boston), Accademia Musicale Chigiana (Siena), Academie de Villecroze (France) and Pacific Music Festival (Japan).
Nico Muhly and David Rowden
David’s career as a solo performer and chamber artist has included collaborations with artists including William Barton (didgeridoo / composer) Emma Matthews (soprano), Paul Meyer (conductor/clarinet), Nico Muhly (composer), Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet) and Timo-Veikko Valve (cello).
Recordings of David’s performances have included his debut album, Mozart - Munro - Palmer which was a collaboration with ABC Classic released internationally through Universal Music Australia. His second album with ABC Classic was recorded and released in 2019, Unexpected News, which was a collaboration with Internationally-renowned composer Nico Muhly and Omega Ensemble. In September 2020, David gave the Digital World Premiere of Gordon Kerry’s Clarinet Quintet on stage at the Sydney Opera House, broadcast live to a global audience.
Artist Endorsements
In March 2019 D’Addario Australia announced David Rowden as an endorsed D’Addario Artist. David performs on their Reserve Evolution reeds.
“I am proud to perform on the new D’Addario Evolution reeds and thrilled to join their family of artists. D’Addario’s incredible consistency and evenness of sound over the entire register of the instrument stands them apart from any other reeds on the market.”
From October 2019 David joined the F. Arthur Uebel family as their first Australian artist performing on “The Zenit” 24K Mopane clarinets.
“There has certainly been no room for error in these extraordinary instruments opening the artist up to a world of colour and possibility.”
Reviews
“This was a spectacular edge-of-the-seat performance of a work which shows all the drive, positivity and irresistible rhythms of all of Edwards’ music. The opening movement, Brillente, was a long solo cadenza for Rowden, his clarinet negotiating athletic leaps and long skipping runs with crystal clear articulation and prodigious breath control.”
Premiere of Ross Edwards Clarinet Concerto No.2
“phrased the clarinet part with great tonal beauty and sensitivity to melodic contour”
“superb technique and artistry”
“expressive, accurate and nuanced”
“seamless and sonorous clarinet tone ”