Old Bendigo gold mine hosts underground piano concert

Piano taken down gold mine for unique underground concert in Bendigo In short: A 300kg piano has been transported 61 metres underground in a 'world-first' piano concert in a Bendigo gold mine. The concert was held in the mine to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the discovery of gold in the central Victorian city. Bendigo Fine Music says it's the first time they know of that a concert has been held underground in such a unique venue. A unique piano concert 61 metres underground in an old gold mine That was the brainwave of Bendigo Fine Music chair Thomas Heywood. And yesterday that brainwave became reality, with a piano descending into the Central Deborah Gold Mine in Bendigo for a one-off evening performance. The 300kg piano was formerly owned by Mr Heywood's mother, who was a renowned concert pianist. "It's one of those classic 'don't drop the piano' scenarios," Mr Heywood said. "We couldn't find any evidence that this has been done before. "It's really quite emotional; it sounds fantastic in here. It is an amazing room for sound. There's a timber ceiling and hardstone walls, and they're ideal for musical performance." The Bendigo Fine Music event celebrated 175 years since gold was first discovered in the central Victorian city. "In 1851, it changed our wonderful country forever,"Mr Heywood said. "We were always taught in school that basically the riches that followed from gold made possible what would have taken 500 years in European history to be achieved in a mere 50 years to Federation." Friday's concert was limited to 60 attendees, who were allowed to remove their hard hats once in the concert room. Pianist Yasmin Rowe said performing this rare and unusual concert was exciting. "I've never played underground before, and this is just so special. When I entered this room, I thought it was so, so beautiful," Ms Rowe said. "You've got this millions-of-years-old rock there right behind the piano; the light, the colour, the atmosphere is wonderful." Ms Rowe and fellow pianist Ian Munro said the underground concert made playing the piano interesting again. "It's quite a dry acoustic. We have to adjust in real time, so using less pedal cause it's quite reverberant." Mr Munro said the rare and unusual concert brought back the memory of a conversation with his piano teacher at the age of 14, who questioned whether he would continue to love playing the piano as an adult. "When I was 30 [and still loved playing piano], and now I'm very much older than 30, I'm still very interested; it's still got that magic for me." The operation to get the instrument underground was a family affair by Joshua McPherson, his wife Jo and son Sam. Mr McPherson said it was "definitely the most unusual" place he had ever taken a piano. The disassembled instrument was wheeled on a trolley into a lift and rolled along the rocky tunnels of the mine. "We were worried about moisture dropping from the ceiling — that was our main concern. [It was] a little bit rough underfoot but nothing scary really," he said. Once in place, it was over to piano technician Nic Hamilton to ensure nothing had gone awry on the journey and to tune the piano before the concert. "It's on the humid side but it takes some hours, perhaps even overnight to seep into the piano and cause any problems,"he said. "It's a fun thing to do, and it's very typical of Thomas [Heywood] to come up with projects that are interesting and exciting."