Keys of Gold - Festival Launch Concert

Interior, Lauriston Chapel, Langley Estate

Bendigo’s Keys of Gold Classical Music Festival is so called as the festival not only features keyboard instruments at every concert, but also features the rich heritage of glorious buildings, grand public spaces and elegant streetscapes all made possible through the discovery of gold in 1851. 

Inspired by the vision of the great Victorian architect William Vahland to make Bendigo the ‘Vienna of the South’, the festival will bring Bendigo and surrounds’ multi-million dollar unique heritage of spectacular pipe organs to life, together with the Steinway concert grand piano selected by Vladimir Ashkenazy himself for the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall and much more. There are 16 concerts across Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in July 2025 - in 11 venues in Bendigo, Castlemaine, Inglewood and Maldon, with 27 instruments and 45 performers.

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Toccata from Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Piano and Organ Duet

Percy Eastman Fletcher (1879-1932)
Festival Toccata [1915]
Organ Solo

Percy Grainger (1882- 1961)
Irish Tune from County Derry'
Piano Solo

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Clair de lune from Suite Bergamasque
Piano and Organ Duet

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Golliwog’s Cake-walk from Children’s Corner
Piano and Organ Duet

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), trans. Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
Variations in E major – ‘The harmonious blacksmith’ from Klavier Suite No. 5, HWV 430
Organ Solo

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Prelude in B minor, Op. 32 No. 10
Piano Solo

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) 
i.  Hungarian Dance No. 5 in F-sharp minor
ii.  Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D major
Piano and Organ Duet

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Grande Valse Brillante [Waltz No. 1 in E-flat major], Op. 18
Piano and Organ Duet

BACK TO FULL KEYS OF GOLD PROGRAM

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
THOMAS HEYWOOD
YASMIN ROWE

Keys of Gold is presented by Bendigo Fine Music. BFM is a registered charity led by a team of people living in and around this beautiful city, aspiring to enrich lives for the good of the wider community through world-class fine music experiences in Bendigo’s unique performance spaces, unparalleled in regional Australia.