In this engrossing acoustic-electronic work composer Erkki Veltheim morphs history with contemporary culture: Morse code played on colonial piano spells out the world’s most retweeted tweet of January 2015, reflecting our universal obsession with trivia.

Telegraph is inspired by the first piano to arrive in Alice Springs at the Telegraph Station via Oodnadata, on the back of a camel. The telegraph line is translated onto the keyboard by utilising the distance in Hertz between the lowest and highest notes of the Telegraph piano (which has 85 keys or 7 octaves), which roughly equals the distance in kilometres of the Overland Telegraph Line. Metaphorically, the keyboard thus traverses a line between Port Augusta and Port Darwin, with Alice Springs being signified by the pitch Eb4.

The pianist is a machine, performing a precise code on colonial piano over an hour against an intense and changing electronic landscape.