Buyer of Kurt Cobain’s guitar gives $5m to Sydney Festival

Sydney businessman Peter Freedman of RODE electronics has pledged support to the city’s arts festival.

RODE founder Peter Freedman at home in Sydney. Picture: Nikki Short

The Sydney man who captured international headlines last year when he bought Kurt Cobain’s guitar for almost $9m, businessman Peter Freedman, has pledged $5m to support the Sydney Festival.

In his eyes, both the guitar and the donations are means to similar ends: raising awareness about the performing arts and inspiring people to be the best they can be.

Mr Freedman, the founder of electronics company RODE — which makes professional-grade microphones and other equipment in Sydney — already has given $1.6m to the Sydney Festival since 2015.

“This city has given me everything,” said Mr Freedman, who was born in Sweden. “I came with my parents, 1966, through the (Sydney) Heads, not much money. To have had success, had luck, everyone’s working hard — if I didn’t try to give back in my area, which is the arts, what kind of person would I be?

“My Mum and Dad were very strong like that,” he said.

Mr Freedman quietly gives to other charities but has gone public with his $5m donation to the Sydney Festival because he wants to encourage others to support the arts, so hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The guitar played by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s acclaimed MTV Unplugged session in 1993 and purchased last year by Peter Freedman. Picture: Julian’s Auctions/AFP

At his inner-city apartment, he has on display his collection of paintings, rock ’n’ roll memorabilia, samurai swords and other objects, including a vampire-­killing kit and a pilot ejector seat from a fighter aircraft.

On a stand is the guitar that Cobain, the former frontman of grunge rock band Nirvana, used during the band’s MTV Unplugged session in 1993, five months before his death.

Mr Freedman said he had not seen Cobain perform live but he had “bittersweet” memories of the band’s music, which reminded him of being in Los Angeles and trying to find buyers for his microphones.

“I wouldn’t have bought it for me,” he said of the guitar. “The sadness associated with it. It’s a vehicle to do some good.”

Last month, Mr Freedman paid $450,000 for Donald Bradman’s baggy green from his 1928 Test debut; he plans to send both the guitar and the cap on tour.

Donald Bradman’s Test debut baggy green from 1928. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

The Sydney Festival is taking place around the city this month, including performances on an outdoor stage at the Barangaroo Headland.

“I’m very impressed with what they do, and how they achieve it,” Mr Freedman said. “It’s a tough gig to pull something out like this, with a limited budget. They need more money to get it on.”