The tag Elevator Music for Omega Ensemble’s concert series with UK clarinet guru Michael Collins comes from an earlier work by Australian composer Graeme Koehne, but it is apt for the world premiere of his new piece Dances on the Edge of Time for two clarinets and orchestra as it lifts your spirits and transports you to a happier time and place.

The new work is also the perfect companion to Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, the other major work on the program, which was written for the “King of Swing” Benny Goodman.

And talking of snatches of the classics you’re likely to hear between floors, WA Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik ranks alongside Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons as the likeliest candidate. Its Allegro proves a felicitous curtain-raiser – a case where familiarity breeds content.

Omega Ensemble with Michael Collins, left, and David Rowden, right. Photo © Gabrielle Clement

Before the twin clarinets of Collins and Omega’s Artistic Director David Rowden are set loose on the stage, the strings give us a second piece, led by the versatile and ever-popular Véronique Serret.

English composer Anna Clyne’s Stride is a single-movement work...