Taioro ki te Ao
Written by Sharn Maree, Composed by Anthony Ritchie
Taioro ki te Ao is a 60 minute performance featuring spoken word, piano and viola.
Opening and closing with pao, this set includes sections of both solo recitals and group performances. Poetry content includes both te reo Māori and English.
Taioro ki te Ao is a journey guided by woven words on some of the less discussed events in Aotearoa, New Zealand history.
This collaboration from spoken word poet Sharn Maree and award winning composer Anthony Ritchie looks to the past, the present and the future.
It speaks to colonisation, indigenous challenges and some of the modern day issues faced in Aotearoa through the perspective of one wahine Māori, Māori woman.
Taioro ki te Ao is a balance of darkness and light, highlighting the importance of acknowledging indigenous narratives and challenging hegemonic systems that attempt to legitimize one narrative over another.
“a performance that was powerful, relevant and highly entertaining”
Creative Team
Sharn Maree, ngāpuhi, te whānau-ā-apanui spoken word
Sharn is a motivational speaker, narrator, facilitator and spoken word performer. A weaver of words who writes and speaks to raise awareness on mental health, political issues and Indigenous rights. Sharn speaks and performs both solo and in collaboration with other artists, having performed at the National Gallery - Ottawa, Columbus State University, Wellington Opera House, Dominion Museum and more.
Recent work includes Ngā Mata o Te Ariki Tāwhirimātea, written alongside Arohanui Nicholson, composed by David Hamilton and performed by Auckland Choral.
Donald Maurice, viola
Donald Maurice has performed internationally for four decades as a solo violist and chamber musician and has given world premieres and New Zealand premieres of many works.
He has presented at twenty International Viola Congresses. He was awarded the Silver Alto Clef by the International Viola Society in 2000, was made an Honorary Life Member of the American Viola Society in 2007, and in 2009 he gave the William Primrose Memorial Concert in Utah.
He has performed for New Zealand diplomatic missions in Washington DC, New York, Ottawa, Berlin, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw. In 2014 he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Sherry Grant, piano
Sherry Grant is a classically trained pianist and cellist. Originally from Taiwan, she studied cello performance and piano accompanying at the School of Music at Auckland University in NZ and later at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.
Sherry worked at the National Junior Pettman Academy, coaching chamber music and was one of their official accompanists. She received piano lessons from Rae de Lisle and Jian Liu, and learned cello from Coral Bognura and Karine Georgian (Russia). Sherry has performed in several concerts including 3 viola recitals with Milan Milisavljević (principal violist from Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York).
