The catastrophic bushfires in Australia that have been raging through millions of hectares of land, have destroyed hundreds of homes. Amidst the devastation, many musicians have lost their instruments. Resound, a program of The Music Trust, is running a Bushfire Appeal that matches donated musical instruments with musicians who have lost their instruments in the fires. Run by musicians, Rachel Hocking tells us how Resound came about, the work it is currently doing, and how incredibly moving an experience it is.

Photograph Wikimedia Commons

I believe Resound was originally established during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Were you involved with it then?

Yes, I was. In 2009, I was working with the Music Council of Australia and we had a program called the National Instrument Bank where patrons would donate high quality instruments that would then be loaned to emerging classical musicians. As part of that program, we received offers of all types of instruments, some not suited to the NIB. At the same time, the devastating Black Saturday bushfires occurred and generous listeners of ABC Classic FM had contacted Ed Ayres about donating instruments. Ed approached the MCA and then we combined those...