Omega Ensemble announces 2026 CoLAB participants
Beth Roche, Thomas Misson, Robert McIntyre and Jessie Leov to write a new works, mentored by internationally acclaimed composers.
Omega Ensemble has announced its intake for the 2026 COLAB: Composer Accelerator Program.
Over a nine-month period, Robert McIntyre, Jessie Leov, Thomas Misson and Beth Roche will each develop a new work for Omega and receive mentorship from highly acclaimed Australian and international composers.
The works will be premiered by Omega at its annual New Now showcase, which will move into a larger venue in 2026 due to ticket demand.
(Clockwise from top) Beth Roche, Thomas Misson, Jessie Leov and Robert McIntyre. Photos supplied
Based in Melbourne, Robert McIntyre is a composer and flautist. He was a 2024 participant in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Cybec 21st Century Young Composers’ Program and has been collaborated with ensembles including Flinders Quartet, Syzygy Ensemble and Peninsula Chamber Musicians. His song cycle Our Duty to Care earned the 2023 Dorian Le Gallienne Composition Award, and his A Sea Spray of Ash was selected to represent Australia in the 2025 ISCM World New Music Days.
A composer based in NSW and New Zealand, Jessie Leov was a 2025 composer fellow at Bang on a Can’s Summer Music Festival, where she saw the world premiere of a brand new work, and has upcoming work with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Flinders Quartet. Her work Speculations on a Rainbow will be recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for its 2025 NZ Composer Sessions.
Beth Roche is a Sydney-based composer currently studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. This year, she was a participant in the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra’s emerging composer program and Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Academy. Her work, Flying Fish, was performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows in 2024.
Thomas Misson is a Hobart-based composer, pianist and music journalist who has collaborated with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective and the Flinders Quartet, among others. In 2023, his Convocations was premiered by pianist Garrick Ohlsson in his Musica Viva Australia performances.
“The continued growth in CoLAB applications shows a hunger for genuine, hands-on collaboration, where composers are challenged to be bold with their ideas, backed by the assurance that their work will be heard by real audiences in professional concert settings,” said Omega CEO and Executive Producer David Boyce.
The 2025 program marks five years since CoLAB’s establishment; it has supported and premiered the works of 22 emerging Australian composers. Mentors have included Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Christopher Cerrone, Nigel Westlake and Elena Kats-Chernin.
CoLAB alumni include Alex Turley, Natalie Nicolas, Ben Robinson, John Rotar and Angus Davison, whose work for the 2021 program, Nigel, was selected to represent Australia at the ISCM World Music Days in 2023.
More about Omega Ensemble’s CoLAB program can be found here.
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