Fresh off their successful European tour, the Sonia & Nigel duo will be in Dunedin for one night only en route to the Te Anau Ukulele Festival as part of their national tour.

Exceptionally, Nigel Gavin will be playing this concert solo to give Sonia some vocal rest before a long string of concerts at the festival and beyond.

This concert will be hosted by a friend of the duo's in the North East Valley neighbourhood. Please send a message through this website if you wish to attend. Tickets will be available on the door, $25 cash.

Nigel Gavin has been a distinctive and influential presence in New Zealand’s eclectic
music scene for more than three decades. Born on Long Island, New York, and based
in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1991, Nigel has played guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass,
glissentar—and, indeed, almost anything with strings—with artists and groups
ranging from the Nairobi Trio, the Fondue Set and the Jews Brothers to Lorina
Harding, Wayne Gillespie, Whirimako Black, Richard Adams, Caitlin Smith, the Blue
Bottom Stompers, Below the Bassline, Jonathan Besser’s Bravura, Snorkel and many
others. More recently, he has been performing with his partner, French-American
singer and ukulele player Sonia Wilson, as Sonia & Nigel.
An enthusiastic mentor and collaborator, Nigel has long been committed to supporting
and inspiring younger musicians. He founded and directed the pioneering guitar-
ensemble projects Gitbox and Gitbox Rebellion, ensembles that attracted
considerable attention and helped launch and develop a generation of fine guitarists.
In 1990, Nigel was invited by Robert Fripp, founder of King Crimson, to travel to
the United States and share his Gitbox techniques and repertoire with Fripp’s own
guitar ensemble, The League of Crafty Guitarists. This international collaboration
led to Nigel joining the band, touring internationally to perform concerts and
workshops, and contributing to several of the ensemble’s recordings.
While his extraordinary versatility as an accompanist has brought depth and colour to
countless musical projects, the heart of Nigel’s own work lies in his solo compositions
and recordings. Across four solo albums, he has developed a distinctive musical
language that draws on a vast range of traditions, cultures and philosophical
influences, combining them into something uniquely his own—at once cross-cultural,
exploratory and unmistakably personal.
Nigel’s signature instrument is his beloved acoustic seven-string guitar, handmade
from kauri by master New Zealand luthier Laurie Williams. He is also known for
playing the glissentar, an 11-string, fretless acoustic instrument with a deeply
resonant, oud-like character.
A virtuoso, composer, collaborator and teacher, Nigel Gavin’s work is grounded in
curiosity, generosity and a lifelong fascination with the possibilities of stringed
instruments.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/nigel-gavin
“…a minstrel for the new millennium.” 
- Guitarist Australian
 

“Nigel Gavin is one of  New Zealand’s musical treasures. The eccentric range
of his musical projects is matched only by his astonishing virtuosity with
stringed instruments and his prodigious musical imagination. Guitarists will be
simply astonished by the technique on display here. Nigel’s finger-picking is
so fast, so smooth, and so laden with sudden virtuoso explosions that it is
damn near impossible to work out either what he’s doing, or how he’s doing
it.” 
- Tauranga Weekend Sun