It was during one of the Covid lockdowns that New Zealand pianist Sharon Joy Vogan decided to create a unique recording project. The project would support composers in one of the most financially difficult times for musicians. She chose eleven composers, including a Maori taonga puoro specialist, to contribute to a work called 'Suite Aotearoa'. The Suite would consist of twelve individual pieces, each describing an aspect of New Zealand. This undertaking was made possible thanks to Creative NZ, who generously funded the entire project.

 

Each of the composers is successful and well-respected in New Zealand, and some have international careers. Five of the pieces are puoro/piano duos, five others are piano solos, and the opening and closing pieces are puoro solos. 

 

Combining indigenous instruments with classical is a relatively new territory in music. It is a blending of two very distinct styles.  This type of collaboration requires flexibility and openness on the part of both the composers and performers. 

 

The puoro and piano solos round out this suite, which describes the magic of Aotearoa through the music of two separate cultures, coexisting as one.