Natalia Mann is a performer, improviser, composer and teacher of the harp. She began learning harp at age 6 in Los Angeles, CA. In her high school years she played professionally with the national orchestras of her birth country New Zealand, and in her late teens performed as a soloist of contemporary classical repertoire. Curiosity for life and improvisation led her to the street. Sınce then she has performed in almost every situation you could imagine and more, with musicians from all the corners of the earth. Her harp is Diz-be (Turkish accent), inherited from the fattest sounding harpist her ears have heard to date, the Lady Xanya, and recently rescued from a burning house!!
New music coming soon, I promise. peace and love to all xx
I am originally from New Zealand, and it has been my great pleasure to work the following NZ artists: our legendary Richard Nunns, Iosefa Enari, Bic Runga, Mark Vanilau, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa with the Auckland Philharmonia, Alessandra Marc & the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, resident at Wellington Sinfonia Orchestra; Jonathan Crayford, Riki Gooch, Sam Konise, Fat Freddy's Drop. ...And Kalaga'la from New Caledonia at the NZ Jazz Festival. I studied harp with Carolyn Mills, Rebecca Harris, Anna Christensen and Jan Christensen, piano with Mary White, Rae De Lisle and David Guerin.
I lived for 10 years in Melbourne, Australia, where I completed a Bachelor of Classical Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts under the tutelage of Xanya Mamunya. Major projects included Sunga, with
singer Grace Vanilau and saxophonist/kora/kalimba player Lila Meleisea (see slides), Brown Roots Collective Pasifik Creative Arts Community organisation, Shima aural geography with Emma Bathgate & Naomi Jean, and Turkish funk outfit Unified Gecko, previously Gece. I duoed with reggae pop legend Nicky Bomba in Angelbomb, spun Celtic tales with gorgeous singer Aurora Kurth, meditated with master drummer David Jones and harpist/composer Michael Johnson, stormed nuclei with experimentalist David Tolley & friends at the Make It Up Club, smoked the stages of MC Elf Tranzporter’s Phatlogic and early True Live hiphop, minimalised with Sunwrae and travelled Recordings include Lisa Miller and film composer Cesary Skubizewski.
I now live in İstanbul with my partner, virtuoso percussionist Izzet Kizil. I have had the honour of performing with Göksel Baktagir, Nedim Nalbantoğlu, Sarp Maden, Yurdal Tokcan, Aziz Şahin, Serdar Pazarcıoğlu and Sumru Ağiryürüyen, Istanbul Sazendeleri – 1000 years of Ottoman Music, and the Furtuna Ensemble, and also with Ilhan Ersahin's Wax Poetic New York-Brazil-Istanbul project featuring Nil and Otto. Recordings include Cavit Murtezaoğlu, Yinon Muallem, arranger Yucel Erzan, and Mubin Dünen. I currently study jazz harmony with Donovan Mixon and read Ethnomusicology with Robert Reigle.
