"A big achievement was getting Cassie to go to the movies. In those sorts of environments she could be very difficult."
Cassie's Dad, Rick
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Three grand pianos played on stage simultaneously

A wonderful one-off performance of Mozart being played on three grand pianos simultaneously is the latest fundraiser for the Raukatauri Centre.

Mozart's Concerto for Three Pianos is rarely performed because of the logistics of getting three grand pianos on one stage, so this is a chance for the audience to experience something very special.

The concert, on 30 March at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre in Epsom, will utilize the talent of three excellent soloists from Auckland University, backed by the "The Auckestra".

> Read more and buy tickets here

Welcome

The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre was named by its founder, singer and songwriter Hinewehi Mohi, after her daughter, Hineraukatauri.

The name Raukatauri comes from the legend of Hine Raukatauri, the Goddess of Flutes, who is the personification of Music.  In Maori legend, Hine Raukatauri is the casemoth who lives in her elongated cocoon that hangs from many native trees.  Maori make a unique flute, the putorino, in the shape of the casemoth's home.

The male casemoth pupates and flies away, but the female remains in her case.  At night as the breeze blows through the cocoon, the call of the female moth to her lover is heard as a sweet but barely audible sound.  This has been the inspiration for all Maori flute music.

When Hinewehi Mohi came to name her daughter, who has severe cerebral palsy, she was reminded of the goddess trapped in her case - just as her daughter is trapped in her body, incapable of much independent movement.  Music, as in the legend, has been the means of communication between mother and daughter.  And Hineraukatauri has found a way to express herself through music therapy, at the Centre named after her and the ancestress Raukatauri.