This July, Catholic churches across Bendigo will host some of the festival’s most powerful musical moments as the Keys of Gold Festival returns from 3 to 26 July 2026, connecting history, music and international audiences.
At Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, internationally acclaimed French organist Johann Vexo, former organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, will perform ‘From Notre-Dame to Sacré-Cœur’ on Sunday 12 July at 3 pm, bringing one of the world’s leading organists to regional Victoria.
The Cathedral will also host the much-loved "Christmas in July" celebration on Saturday 4 July at 4 pm, featuring soprano Merlyn Quaife, Douglas Heywood OAM, and a massed choir drawn from across Victoria — a stirring winter gathering of voices.
At St Kilian’s Church, Bendigo, the festival reaches a defining moment with the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by leading Australian composer Gordon Kerry, written especially for trumpet and organ. The premiere takes place on Saturday, 25 July at 11 am, in the very church where Fr Henry Backhaus funded the installation of the organ in 1872, helping shape the musical life of Bendigo’s early Catholic community.
Performed by virtuoso trumpeter Louisa Trewartha and Thomas Heywood, this new work will debut in Bendigo — and then, just 72 hours later, be performed at a major international festival in Germany before thousands; a piece of music born here, travelling straight onto the world stage.
Other festival venues include St Paul’s Cathedral; Forest Street Uniting Church, St Andrew’s Uniting Church; Long Gully Uniting Church; Christ Church, Castlemaine; Castlemaine Uniting Church; Holy Trinity Church, Maldon; and St Augustine’s Church, Inglewood.
For the full program, go to: www.bendigofinemusic.com.
Image above: Johan Vexo, internationally acclaimed French organist.
