SEVEN concerts are planned for Langley Estate next year following a successful fundraising event in December.
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Owners Thomas and Simone Heywood purchased the property a year ago and plan to use the chapel as a live music venue and hope to establish a music academy in the manor house.
Mr and Mrs Heywood are both professional musicians who have toured internationally to perform with Mr Heywood regarded as one of the world's best concert organists.
Their expertise in the music arena leaves them well placed to bring live performances to the historic White Hills property.
"The fact (Langley Estate) is such versatile space is amazing," Mr Heywood said. "It's Federation architecture is great eye candy and the chapel is a fantastic space. "You can get a great audience in there and it is ideal as a chamber music venue."
Mr Heywood said the couple had been searching for a property like Langley Hall for years.
"When we saw this place, we could see the potential to turn it in to a performance arts venue," he said. "The chapel was the clincher. It's a 100-seat concert venue when when want it and it's really perfect.
"Langley is unique with its mansion, manor house, chapel and garden that is five minutes from major regional city. And Bendigo the cultural heart of the Goldfields."
At the start of December, Langley Estate hosted its first concert in the chapel with the Ulumbarra Foundation holding a fundraiser featuring husband and wife duo Slava and Sharon Grigoryan.
Mr Heywood said its success would ensure more live performances were planned for the future.
"Everyone had a fantastic time and we have seven concerts planned through next year at this stage and then more," he said. "We want to do everything - jazz nights, solo recitals, string quartets.
"We will be kicking off on the last Sunday in February with opera singer and soprano Merlyn Quaife.
"We also want to turn the manor house into a music academy and have had interest from local music teachers wanting to do masterclasses."
As well as live music, Langely Estate is also operating as a bend and breakfast since the Heywood arrived in July. The couple also wants to engage the community more through the property
"It has been full steam ahead," Mr Heywood said. "We couldn't believe it. We first opened in July and three weeks later we went into lockdown. But we had just got the website up and it started to fill.
"We want to do open gardens, high teas, gin nights, champagne tastings - all those things. We want the estate to be used by community as much as possible.
"From 1919 to 1926, Langley had 872 Gallipoli veterans who were shellshocked from WWI here. So we would love to do something with the Anzacs given (the property's) history."
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