A native of Nuʻuanu, Oʻahu, Laritza Labouche (T.J. Keanu Tario) is a Kānaka Maoli classical pianist, film composer, and cultural practitioner whose work bridges concert music, contemporary performance, and Indigenous storytelling. They are the inaugural winner of Hawaiian Council’s Hawaiʻi to the World talent search competition.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and The California Institute of the Arts, Tario’s compositions have been performed by leading ensembles including the New York Youth Symphony and the Attacca String Quartet. Their concert works include Capriccio for One Piano, Four Hands, commissioned by the Aloha International Piano Festival and premiered by Lisa Nakamichi and Jon Nakamatsu (Gold Medalist, Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition). Tario has also served as part-time faculty at the University of Southern California and was currently developing a new musical centered on the overthrow and imprisonment of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
Recent performances and artist residencies include a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in drag with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra; participation in the 8×8: Source exhibition at Shangri La, a museum of Islamic art, culture, and design supported by the Doris Duke Foundation; and fellowships with First Peoples Fund (Artists in Business Leadership Grant) and the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation
(LIFT). Through LIFT, Tario premiered the Hawaiian contemporary ballet E aha ʻia ana ʻo Mauna Kea at Leeward Community College Theatre, a multidisciplinary work amplifying awareness of the Protect Mauna Kea movement.
Tario has also composed music for Kānaka Maoli–led films including Standing Above the Clouds and Through Our Eyes: RECLAIM, both produced by Multitude Films. They currently share their music through vinyl releases on Lōʻihi Records (Standing Above the Clouds and He Kaikamahine O Kekahi Moku), weekly performances with the Nā Lei Aloha Hula Show at the Hyatt Regency Waikīkī, and online at www.lalamusicstudio.com and @laritzalabouche.
The 2026 Live from the Atherton: Mele Hawaiʻi concert series was produced by Zilla Barbosa with audio production and post-production by Ananddev Banerjee. The broadcast of this event was produced by Russell Subiono.
