NATIONALLY acclaimed pianist Ben Austin will return home to play on an 1897 Collard and Collard boudoir grand piano.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The walnut piano made in England has been restored by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and will be unveiled with a performance by Austin at the museum.
Austin, 21, is originally from Legana and is studying a Bachelor of Music in advanced performance at Griffith University in Queensland.
Last year he was runner-up and awarded people's choice award in the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition.
The QVMAG concert will help raise funds for Austin to finish his final year of university.
Austin said he had been playing piano since he was seven and practiced for a minimum of four hours a day, sometimes up to seven hours a day.
He hopes to get into professional musical theatre and potentially move to Melbourne next year when he finishes his degree. He also has dreams of a concert career.
Austin said he was grateful for the support.
''It's wonderful people from home are so willing to take time in their busy lives to do something for someone else,'' he said.
Rosevears independent MLC Kerry Finch, part of a group behind the concert, said Austin was destined for fantastic things and encouraged people to attend.
''They will be able to say they saw Ben Austin pay piano when he was 21-years-old before be became world famous,'' he said.
The April 20 concert starts at 8pm at QVMAG's Royal Park art gallery space. Tickets are $45, including wine and canapes, from Barratts Music, Launceston.
PIANO FACTS:
-The piano was brought to Tasmania on the Eden Holme and used in the music studio of Mrs Alfred Bowden.
-Alfred and Mary Bowden were performers, music teachers and professionally recognised composers in Launceston.
-The piano was restored to working order with funds supplied by the donor Shirley Carter and a small amount contributed by QVMAG in 2007.
-Mrs Mary Bowden is being nominated for the Tasmanian Honour Roll of women for her 45 years as a music teacher and as a composer.