Taonga Pūoro with Horomona Horo

Composer, practitioner and cross genre collaborator, Horomona Horo has fused the traditional instruments of the Maori, taonga puoro (singing treasures), within a diverse range of cultural and musical forms.

Mentored by tohunga (experts) of Taonga Puoro, the late Dr Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns, in 2001, Horo won the inaugural Dynasty Heritage Concerto Competition and in the intervening years has become the international Maori face of Taonga Puoro.

Performances including orchestral work with the Weimarer Staatskapelle Orchestra, hip-hop with Pao Pao Pao, Opera in the Park with Kiri Te Kanawa, guest artist at the 90th Commemorations of the Battle of Passchendaele, and international tours with Moana and the Tribe, Canti Maori, Green Fire Islands and the Voices NZ Choir have enabled Horomona to extend his knowledge and skills across diverse genres whilst remaining a cultural and musical educator in his own right.

Horomona appears at Waitangi Treaty Grounds on their inaugural Matariki Open Day, with entry to the grounds and all cultural performances FREE.

Venue: Te Whare Rūnanga (the House of Assembly) at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, is a beautifully carved meeting house designed in traditional Māori form and built from timber and other natural materials. The meeting house was opened on 6 February 1940 and stands facing the Treaty House on the Upper Grounds of Waitangi. Together the two buildings symbolise the partnership between Māori and the British Crown on which the nation of Aotearoa New Zealand is founded. The meeting house reflects the Māori stories and carving styles of iwi, or tribes, from across New Zealand, and unites not only Māori and Pākehā, but all New Zealanders.