Ariana Tikao started performing in 1993 with the folk group Pounamu; has released three solo albums: Whaea (2002), Tuia (2008), and From Dust to Light (2012); and has been involved with many collaborative projects, including art music quartet Tararua, and duo Muriwai. She also works in experimental music in gallery spaces and site specific locations, collaborating and improvising with various artists particularly in the Christchurch and Wellington music scenes.

Ariana has been mentored by key members of Haumanu, a group who worked over decades to revive the voices of taonga puoro after colonisation all but rendered them mute. She was a featured singer in John Psathas’s epic international collaboration ‘No Man’s Land’ in 2016. In 2021 Ariana performed taonga puoro and sang with Māori thrash metal band Alien Weaponry and the NZSO, and again with the NZSO in the ‘Ngā Hihi o Matariki’ symphony that she also collaborated on with composer Gareth Farr, and singer Mere Boynton.

Last year Ariana expanded her horizons with several international projects, including a collaboration with Austrian bass clarinet player Anna Koch, performing in New Zealand festivals and in Vienna; she also presented a new repertoire for viola and taonga puoro with Sophia Acheson at the 49th International Viola Congress in Brazil; and began a creative fellowship at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK.

Ariana’s music has featured on television, film, theatre, dance, and in online videos. Whatever the setting, Ariana always brings artistic integrity, and what has been described as “depth and dignity,” making her a sought-after talent and collaborator. She is also a published writer and poet.