Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Flow album recorded live at Opera House

Paul Brooks
By Paul Brooks
Whanganui Midweek·
17 Jan, 2022 10:16 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Lizzie de Vegt at the piano during the recording of Flow live. Photo / Steve Caudwell

Lizzie de Vegt at the piano during the recording of Flow live. Photo / Steve Caudwell

How many people get to be part of the audience in the recording of a live album? Some of us did last Wednesday night when we attended a concert "on stage" at the Royal Wanganui Opera House.
Elizabeth de Vegt is a Whanganui singer / songwriter / musician / tutor of
considerable talent, and she has taken 15 poems by Airini Beautrais, from her book 'Flow', set them to music and now, with the help of some accomplished local musicians, recorded them on to an album, due to be released in March.

After meeting and mingling in the refreshments room beside the Opera House stage, buying programmes for the performance and Airini Beautrais books from a stall set up by Lesley and Rochelle from Paige's Book Gallery, the audience filed on to the stage where everything was set, ready for for the recording session. Instruments, including the resident grand piano, with microphones, fold-back speakers, wires and leads, cluttered centre-stage. Chairs, lots of chairs, encircled the business, some raised on to "rostra" for a higher view. The audience took whatever seat they fancied, secured their programmes and books and waited for proceedings to start.

The evening was introduced with good humour by Carla Donson, Women's Network manager and La Fiesta co-ordinator. The event will also become part of the La Fiesta programme with a performance scheduled for March 5 at St Peter's Church in Koromiko Rd.
"None of this would be happening without the extraordinary achievements and discipline and talent of Airini Beautrais," she said, beginning a list of acknowledgements. The audience applauded — which would be good practice for later on — and Carla presented Airini with a bunch of flowers picked from Carla's own garden. The acknowledgement was not just for Flow and the words to accompany the music, but for her ongoing support of the project.

Others recognised for their roles were Piet de Vegt; Cecelia Kumeroa and Sacha Keating; Gina Guigou and her catering team; Creative Communities Whanganui and Whanganui District Council; Nigel Mauchline (audio production); the Royal Whanganui Opera House events team; with a special thanks to Te Awa Tupua, the Whanganui River, the subject of Flow.

Carla then introduced the band: Lizzie de Vegt (vocals, piano, guitar), Elise Goodge (taonga puoro and vocals), Brad McMillan (drums), Andrew Wetherall (lead guitar), and Hamish Jellyman (bass, synth bass and vocals).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
The musicians, from left, Andrew Wetherall, Elise Goodge, Brad McMillan, Lizzie de Vegt and Hamish Jellyman. Photo / Steve Caudwell
The musicians, from left, Andrew Wetherall, Elise Goodge, Brad McMillan, Lizzie de Vegt and Hamish Jellyman. Photo / Steve Caudwell

Carla withdrew and the concert began with 'Surveyor's Grave' and 'Falling Branch', both solo piano pieces with Lizzie's vocals.

From the third track the rest of the band came in, with extra vocals and Elise's carefully judged use of taonga puoro or traditional Maori instruments. She had them all laid out on a table for easy, quiet access and each was able to enhance certain passages of Lizzie's compositions, adding emotion, bird song or drama in measured quantities.

The 15 tracks in total were examples of strong, melodic composition, rich harmonies and a wealth of variety in style, tone and use of talent.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When it came to the track 'Port Bowen', Elise said, "In the process of writing this music, Lizzie inadvertently created a new musical genre. We're calling it 'danty' — it's sea shanty meets dub."

Elise Goodge expertly wielded her taonga puoro in all the right moments. Photo / Steve Caudwell
Elise Goodge expertly wielded her taonga puoro in all the right moments. Photo / Steve Caudwell

The audience came from many parts of the community but came together in appreciation of the evening's performance.

This was the third day the band and recording engineers spent in the Opera House preparing the album.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Seabed mining project sparks alarm over impact on South Taranaki fisheries

07 Jul 03:57 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Multiple purchase offers for pilot academy

07 Jul 03:39 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Police seek sightings of car linked to missing person

06 Jul 11:50 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Seabed mining project sparks alarm over impact on South Taranaki fisheries

Seabed mining project sparks alarm over impact on South Taranaki fisheries

07 Jul 03:57 AM

Jamie Newell fears silt pollution will damage precious reef ecosystems.

Multiple purchase offers for pilot academy

Multiple purchase offers for pilot academy

07 Jul 03:39 AM
Police seek sightings of car linked to missing person

Police seek sightings of car linked to missing person

06 Jul 11:50 PM
How a spray painter is mastering conflict resolution with NZ Army

How a spray painter is mastering conflict resolution with NZ Army

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP