A-list artists converge for gold-standard festival

THE world-class Keys of Gold classical music festival has returned for a second edition after its successful debut last year, having begun last Friday.

Running for the entire month of July, a host of curated concerts are being spread across historic venues throughout Bendigo, Castlemaine, Inglewood and Maldon.

Led by internationally acclaimed Bendigo-based organist Thomas Heywood, featured artists include soprano Merlyn Quaife, British-born pianist Yasmin Rowe, Japanese-Australian flute player Masahide Kurita and Bendigo-born, London-based violinist Patrick Savage.

Also on the program are Baroque violinist Lizzy Welsh, the Australian Boys Choir, trumpeter and composer Louisa Trewartha, French horn player Roman Ponomariov, Bendigo’s Fourth Harmony Brass and the Bendigo Chamber Choir, plus representatives from more than 15 Victorian choirs.

Heywood, who has travelled 1.2 million kilometres performing solo concerts on the most celebrated pipe organs across the globe during his career, said he is excited by the program.

“We had 45 performers last year and this year, we’ve still got the 16 concerts, but we have 250 performers involved,” he said.

“We’ve also added another venue, the beautiful Inglewood Town Hall.”

He said the stellar lineup of musicians performing are being more than matched by each town’s “gorgeous” heritage buildings.

“This is a chance for the audience to come in and experience these venues architecturally and, very interestingly, in the fine music context, the acoustics are magnificent for this sort of music,” Heywood said.

“They’re really, really beautiful – very warm, generous, and in some cases reverberant sound, which adds a sugar coating to the performances.”

With a lot of pre-bookings coming from Sydney, Melbourne and even from overseas, Heywood said the festival is starting to get some real traction as more and more people hear about it.

“It really is becoming quite like a festival family of people coming up and looking forward to it,” he said.

“I encourage everyone to come and experience this beautiful architecture, these gorgeous spaces, and listen to literally some of the world’s finest musicians.”

The Keys of Gold Festival 2026 continues until Sunday 26 July, with full festival passes on offer at a 20 per cent discount.

View the full program and buy tickets on Humanitix.