Soprano Emma Hartikainen and pianist Tanja Niiranen begun their collaboration in 2020. The duo is known for their intensive and captivating stage presence and bold repertoire choices. They perform regularly throughout Finland as well as abroad. Some of their latest recitals include Unohduksen Virta – Stream of oblivion, a program inspired by the Lethe river from Greek mythology, in Helsinki Music Centre in May 2025 and Il bambino meraviglioso dall'Italia – Mignon dietro le canzoni, a program combining Hugo Wolf's Mignon songs and improvisation on text excerpts from Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, in the Finnish Institute in Rome (Rome, Italy) in October 2024. Other important performances include Musica novafestival, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum concert series, Hämeenlinna Sibelius Museum concert series and Pro Musica foundation’s annual celebratory concert, as well as concerts in Ateneum art museum, Soiva Kieli concert series, Villa Gyllenberg, Villa Hakasalmi and Kuopio City Hall. 

The core agenda of the duo is nuanced, in-depth, and engaging storytelling through music and broadening the traditional Lied repertoire by highlighting composers and works outside of the traditional canon by creative concert programming. The duo works regularly with contemporary composers. In May 2023, they premiered the song cycle Mitä koskikara näki, commissioned by the duo from the composer Maleena Linjama, in the Sibelius Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki. In 2026/2027 the duo is preparing their debut album Woman, human consisting of music by Kaija Saariaho, Ruth Schönthal and Germaine Tailleferre. 

The duo has been awarded several prizes and grants. In June 2026, they were honored with ‘Auszeichnung Ars Augusta’ special prize in the International Bolko von Hochberg Lied Competition (Görlitz, Germany / Jelenia Góra, Poland). The Sibelius Academy Foundation has awarded the duo grants for study trips to Germany, Italy, and Austria, for commissioning a song cycle from Maleena Linjama, and for organizing concerts featuring Lied music by women composers from the 1900s and 2000s. In spring 2023, Hartikainen and Niiranen received a € 5,000 recognition grant from the Martin Wegelius Memorial Foundation; in 2024, they received a grant from the Helsinki Music Centre Foundation, an award from Kulturfonds der Stadt Salzburg at the Summer Academy Mozarteum as well as a Special Prize in the Helsinki Lied Competition.

The duo is mentored by the Finnish pianist Ilmo Ranta. Together they have also participated in various Lied masterclasses held by world-class musicians such as Anu Komsi and Pia Värri, Kaija Saariaho, Angelika Kirchschlager, Karen Cargill, Pauliina Tukiainen, Andreas Schmidt, Andrè Schuen, Christian Westergaard, Malcolm Martineau, Martin Katz, Henk Neven and Graham Johnson. The duo has also studied improvisation with prof. David Dolan (Guildhall School). The duo’s improvised Lieder have received an enthusiastic response from their audiences, and in June 2024, the duo performed their first completely improvised Lied concert Kuvia Helsingistä – Pictures from Helsinki inspired by the photographs of Volker von Bonin in Villa Hakasalmi as part of the official program of the anniversary of Helsinki.