harp and garden

Who knew that the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne had a resident musician, let alone a harpist? I only found out recently. Michael Johnson's job is to compose music inspired by the Garden, and give performances in the Garden.

Michael had the privilege of living in the Garden for two years. In the performance I went to, he told the audience how during this period he would regularly get up at dawn, go down to a spot near the Lake and play his harp. Every day a black swan would waddle up, settle down next to him, put its head under its wing and go to sleep as he played. This went on for about a year.

Then one day the swan didn't appear. Michael was upset. He wandered if the swan had been taken by one of the foxes that hunted in the gardens at night. After a few weeks, the swan re-appeared - accompanied by his mate and baby cygnets! The entire swan family sat down next to him, tucked their heads under their wings and went to sleep as he played. Inspired by this, he wrote a piece of music and named it Swan.

I couldn't find a video of Swan, but here is a video of Michael playing a piece called Forest.