KEY POINTS:
Jenolan Caves' imposing Cathedral Chamber makes the Sydney Opera House look like an effort from Fisher Price's My First Concert Hall range. A cavernous space with a 50m-high solid rock ceiling, the chamber has to be one of the most impressive natural concert halls on the planet. And, if scientists are to be believed, one of the oldest.
In 2006, a new clay-dating technique revealed that the world-famous Jenolan Caves, located 180km from Sydney in New South Wales' Blue Mountains, are actually 250 million years older than previously thought.
Allegedly first discovered by an ex-convict bushranger in 1838, the caves are about 340 million years old, which makes them the world's oldest discovered open caves.
To give this staggering figure some context, dinosaurs became extinct around 65 million years ago and Tasmania was still connected to Australia as recently as 10,000 years ago.
Jenolan's Concerts in the Caves series celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and notable performers to have appeared during this time include Dame Nelly Melba, the Vienna Boys Choir and opera great Joan Sutherland (who reportedly called Cathedral Chamber "the hall with the best acoustics I ever sang in").
The chamber accommodates up to 70 people and its colossal rock walls keep it at a steady 15C all year around.
These same rocks also help to create one of the most acoustically pure spaces imaginable. No background noise reaches the chamber and the uneven rock surface produces a perfect echo, so there is no need for amplification. The chamber has such a purity of silence that microphone manufacturers regularly use it to test and fine-tune their products.
Descending into the bowels of a cave system to attend a concert is a surreal experience. We follow our guide along the winding stone passageway, ducking under archways and climbing down steep sets of stairs. After 10 minutes and some 250 steps, we spill out into the chamber and settle down into rows of camping chairs, all facing a solitary, spotlit seat.
Our performer for the night is Georg Mertens, a talented cellist and guitarist and regular fixture at the caves. He takes to the makeshift stage with his 260-year-old cello and for the next hour we are captivated by the sounds of romantic classics, from Bach and Vivaldi to Massenet's Meditation from Thaiss and David Poppers' Hungarian Rhapsody. Mertens also performs his own works, which he has composed specifically to take advantage of the cave's unique acoustics.
All around us are beautifully floodlit limestone formations and, in this environment, every note has a haunting, ethereal quality. Mertens has a lovely, understated manner about him and between each piece he talks to the audience about the caves and the music.
Other regular performers include the Paganini Duo, which plays gypsy music from Russia, Romania, Spain and Hungary, plus multi-award-winning baritone Stephen Fisher-King who, together with a string ensemble, sings popular opera classics and songs from Broadway shows.
After the concert, we are given the option of taking a brief guided tour of the rest of the Lucas Cave or returning to the surface to mingle with the performers over wine and cheese at nearby Jenolan Caves House.
As we make our way back up, I glance at my mobile phone and realise that, for the last hour, none of us has had any reception.
That, in itself, is worth the price of the ticket.
- Detours, HoS
