Natalia Lagi'itaua Mann is an international

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist and musician, born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand. In 2013 she received the Iosefa Enari Memorial Award at the

Arts Pasifika Awards The Arts Pasifika Awards celebrate excellence in Pacific arts in New Zealand. The annual awards are administered by Creative New Zealand and are the only national awards for Pasifika artists across all artforms. The Arts Pasifika Awards includ ...

. She has performed with the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony ...

and collaborated with

Richard Nunns Richard Anthony Nunns (7 December 1945 – 7 June 2021) was a Māori traditional instrumentalist of Pākehā heritage. He was particularly known for playing taonga pūoro and his collaboration with fellow Māori instrumentalist Hirini Melbourn ...

. Her album ''Pasif.ist'' (2011) reached number 4 New Zealand album charts in its second week.

Early life and education

Mann was born in Wellington and is of Samoan, Chinese, English and Scottish heritage. She started learning music as a child, learning piano and harp, starting with harp at age four. Mann earned her Bachelor of Music from the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus ...

in Melbourne in 2002. Her degree is in classical music performance, with Xanya Mamunya as her main teacher and influence from

Alice Chalifoux Alice Chalifoux (January 22, 1908 – July 31, 2008) was the principal harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1931 to 1974 and was its only female member for twelve years. Chalifoux learned to play the harp from her mother, studying music at lo ...

. She has been mentored by Richard Nunns and

Ros Bandt Rosalie (Ros) Edith Bandt (born 18 August 1951 in Geelong) is an Australian composer, sound artist, academic and performer. Biography Bandt was born in Geelong, Victoria. Her father Lewis Bandt was a car designer and notable for designing the f ...

. Mann has also studied Jazz at

Skopje University The Saints Cyril and Methodius University () is a public research university in Skopje, North Macedonia. It is the oldest and largest public university in the country. It is named after the Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries Cyri ...

Career

Mann started her professional music career in her late teens as a harpist including with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Mann creates soundscapes and improvisations, and also plays jazz and classical music. For ten years Mann lived in Melbourne, Australia. She co-founded the group Samoan trio Sunga, the Brown Roots Pacific Arts Collective, and the avant-garde group Shima. She lived in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

for six years and in 2017 was based in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, Australia. She has played jazz in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. Mann has played harp with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra. She recorded on ''Unified Gecko – Gecko Kebab'' a collaboration between Australian musicians and the Turkish group Gece. Her abstract and conceptual music collaborators include

, David Long, Erdem Helvacioglu and ethnomusicologist Robert Reigle. She has made a documentary ''Illuminations on Consciousness'' about '

synaesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...

and collective consciousness in relation to art and nature'. In 2014 she exhibited lightscores for resonance music called ''Musique Concrète'' in Wellington. In 2011 Mann and percussionist Izzet Kizil released an album ''Pasif.ist'' with

Rattle Records Rattle Records, established in 1991, is a contemporary art-music label based in Auckland, New Zealand. It releases compositions generally by New Zealand composers in contemporary art genres. It has been described as "the de facto home of New Zealan ...

. Other artists on the album are: Sercan Halili, Abdullah Shakar, Dine Doneff, Richard Nunns, Lucien Johnson, Riki Gooch, Serdar Pazarcıoglu, Deniz Gungur, and Naomi Jean O’Sullivan who was co-writer on the track "Time"). It reached number four on the New Zealand album charts in its second week. Mann often plays harp for

Bic Runga Briolette Kah Bic Runga (born 13 January 1976), recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga ...

. In 2011 Mann was the opening act for Bic Runga's ''Acoustic Church Tour'' of New Zealand. Mann collaborated with Neil Ieremia and

Black Grace Black Grace is one of New Zealand's leading contemporary dance companies. Founded by Neil Ieremia in 1995, Ieremia draws from his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works that reach across social, cultural and generationa ...

in 2011. In 2017 the album ''Utterance'' was released with compositions created by Mann, David Long and

. The music is described as "improvised

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

s" and was recorded in 2013. It was the last recording made by Richard Nunns before retirement due to his struggle with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

Awards

* 2013 – Iosefa Enari Memorial Award, Arts Pasfika Awards,

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Natalia Living people Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand women harpists New Zealand classical composers 20th-century New Zealand women composers 21st-century New Zealand women composers 20th-century New Zealand composers 21st-century New Zealand composers