A French Musical Soirée with Sonia & Nigel
Sunday 2 November, 2025
Time
4.00PM – 6.00PM
Pricing
(+ $1.50 booking fee per ticket)
Venue: Great Hall
Sonia & Nigel are a multi-cultural acoustic duo featuring French-American Paris-born Sonia Wilson on vocals & ukulele and Kiwi-American virtuoso musician Nigel Gavin on 7-string guitar. They weave French, Kiwi and American songs with their own original compositions and inspiration from their travels around the world. After meeting and playing together for the first time at a folk festival during Sonia’s first visit to New Zealand on a solo round-the-world trip in December 2014, the pair have since become a well-loved duo in the New Zealand music scene and beyond - sharing songs as a vehicle for peace, joy, laughter, healing and community-building; celebrating beauty, love, life and ecology through their music.
There are two ticket pricing options - a general admission ticket (from $10 - $25 per person), and a table option. The table (premium) tickets are $50 per person and include a complimentary drink from the Arts Centre Bar in the Great Hall and a platter of nibbles for the table. There are no concession prices for these tickets. Please book all people who want to sit at a table together under the same name.
About The Artists
"Sonia Wilson is a living, breathing human Womad Festival. Born and raised in Paris, UK-educated and now based in Auckland, the Franco-American singer, songwriter and musician had a dizzying musical apprenticeship. A member of both gospel and Acapella choirs from a young age, her music has taken her from the streets of Paris, across the Kenyan savannah, through remote Himalayan villages, and then ’home’ to New Zealand. When she’s not performing, Sonia teaches, offering classes in individual and group ukulele, guitar and vocals." (Peter Malcouronne, Ockham Collective)
https://ockhamcollective.org.nz/r-sonia-wilson
"Nigel Gavin is a multi award winning musician. Initially a visitor from Long Island, New York, now a Kiwi, Nigel has long been a featured player in New Zealand’s music scene, playing 7-string guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass - indeed, almost anything with strings - with the Nairobi Trio, the Fondue Set, the Jews Brothers, the Blue Bottom Stompers, Lorina Harding, Wayne Gillespie, Whirimako Black, Jonathan Besser & Bravura among others. He has also found time to create and mentor the multi-guitar ensemble Gitbox Rebellion. Gavin is a guitarist with remarkable versatility who is respected by other players around the world, and who excites audiences with jaw-dropping solos. He continues to work internationally in New Zealand, Europe, Australia and the United States."
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/nigel-gavin
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