Back At The Piano Play It Again, Rae

Back At The Piano Play It Again, Rae

- Fleur Guthrie

The last time renowned concert pianist Rae de Lisle and veteran broadcaster Bill McCarthy graced the cover of the Weekly, they were bright-eyed young newlyweds in the late 1970s.

Now, 41 years later, reminiscing on more high notes than low, Rae has a one-word answer when asked their secret to marital harmony.

“Tolerance!” she laughs. “We’re very different,

Bill and I. But we both love classical music, so that has been an important part of our life together.”

It was on one of Rae’s brief trips back to New Zealand in 1975 – after studying at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music in London – that she met her future husband when he interviewed her for TV One News.

A short interview stretched to two hours, thanks to “technical problems”. “That was quite funny really, because I went back to England a week later.”

They carried on the initial spark of romance through letters and when Bill was in South Africa commentating on the 1976 All Blacks tour, he made a special trip to London to persuade Rae to return to Auckland with him.

“I came back, we got married, had two daughters and I continued playing concerts most months, which meant a lot of travelling,” she says, admitting it was quite hard for the children. “But I tried not to be away for more than two weeks at a time.”