Few people follow up a two-and-a-half year Whitsundays sailing trip by selling their yacht and moving to Ringarooma.
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And yet that’s exactly what concert pianist Harley Tait and his partner did at the end of 2014 when they took up residence at the old Ringarooma bank.
Tait said he had immediately fallen in love with the building, which still retains signs of its former life and now serves as a popular accommodation spot for those visiting the North-East.
“I’ve been coming to Tasmania for skiing in Mount Field and I found this building and I thought ‘we’ll buy it and have it as a holiday house’,” Tait said.
“But we loved it so much we just moved here.”
The house is also home to a number of antique pianos, from which Tait teaches 11 local students – something he never expected to do.
“I was asked after a concert I did here in April this year by a husband who just said ‘would you teach my wife?’
“I really loved it and now I’m teaching her nieces and her friends - I hadn’t taught before so it’s a new thing, I’m enjoying it and my students are getting a lot out of it.”
Tait began playing piano at the age of four, receiving informal lessons from his grandfather before taking up professional lessons at school.
After becoming “obsessed” with Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms from the age of seven, he pursued music and went on to win a scholarship to study in Switzerland and began touring Europe with a classical orchestra.
Returning to Australia some years later, Tait spent several years as an artist; studying a fine arts degree, hosting exhibitions and undertaking commission work before returning to the piano, where he has since recorded a handful of solo albums.
His most recent offering – Atlas – was named after the aforementioned yacht and was inspired by his time at sea.
Until now Tait’s painting and piano careers appear to have existed as mutually exclusive entities, however he hopes to find a more balanced split in the future.
“I get quite obsessed, I’m an ‘all or nothing’ type person.
“I absolutely loved painting and I’m planning on starting to paint again, I also plan on touring and possibly doing some concerts in Tasmania, and some charity concerts as well.”