Siegfried Idyll opens undergound at Central Deborah Gold Mine

A 90-second vertical ride through the rock in a caged lift followed by a 50-odd metre walk down a dark tunnel leads to the Central Deborah Gold Mine's underground function room, which has played host to musical gatherings of various kinds since the 1990s.

This gig, featuring an internationally acclaimed Wagner conductor and a selection of the Melbourne Opera's best musicians, is something very different.

For everyone involved in the production of Wagner's Siegried Idyll, the experience is a new one.

"It's probably the most unique setting I've ever sung in," soprano soloist Lee Abrahmsen said.

"I did sing on the back of a semi-trailer at Dunkeld before, but this takes the cake."

Producer Greg Hocking had the idea to use the gold mine as a venue for one of the extra musical events taking place around Melbourne Opera's staging of The Ring Cycle series because "The Ring is about the golden ring".

"I said to our wonderful Bendigo point man Jeremy Vincent, 'Just go and talk to the mine and see if there's a room'. We didn't expect there to be a room 60m down where you have to wear a hard hat!"

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What has resulted is "an hour of music about love down the mine".

In contrast to the grandiose works for which Wagner is well known, Siegfried Idyll was written by the composer as a birthday present to his wife, and a tribute to his newborn son, Siegfried.

"He played it on the stairs of the house they were living in in Lucerne as a surprise for Cosima," Hocking said.

For esteemed Wagner conductor Anthony Negus, it will the fifth time conducting the work. The first was in 1967 as an undergraduate at Oxford.

"It's the most beautiful, intimate piece. I love it dearly," he said.

"It is a very romantic story."

"And it works with a small orchestra or a chamber, like we're doing."

The underground performance, comes as "an interlude, so to speak, between two of the biggest pieces", the operas Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.

While it wasn't the maestro's idea to choose a venue you have to wade through shallow water to get to, he was cautiously positive about its acoustic potential.

"I think it'll be pretty resonant down there. It might be a little bit overwhelming. I'll have to see. It's a first."

With performances in the underground cavern limited to 48 people - who will have to descend in two loads - the first three shows have already sold out and a fourth, on April 29, has just been announced.

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