Celebrated composer Paul Stanhope lives near the Parramatta River in an area where the city comes together with nature and the wildlife that thrives in the parks and mangroves.

The Romans had a name for this kind of place – “paludarium”, a sanctuary where the two environments meet and overlap. So when Sydney’s Omega Ensemble commissioned a piece for clarinet and strings, Stanhope looked to his local birdcalls, thrumming cicadas and croaking frogs as raw material for his 20-minute, three-movement piece premiered during the ensemble’s Inner Landscapes tour.

The work is part of Omega’s Living Music project and created with the support of Penrith Performing & Visual Arts, Ian Plater and Gaston Nguyen in Memory of the late Limelight publisher, Robert Veel.

Stanhope worked closely with Omega’s Artistic Director David Rowden who, introducing Paludarium Dreams with Stanhope, tells the audience that in 30 years of playing the clarinet, this was the first time he had been asked to impersonate a frog.

Omega Ensemble. Photo supplied

Accompanied by Vatche Jambazian’s piano and 11 string players, led by TSO Concertmaster Emma McGrath, Rowden...