Waikato Times - Tommy Emmanuel, NZSO the latest shows announced for the Waikato Regional Theatre

Originally published in Waikato Times, Friday 24 September 2025.

By Mike Mather.

Virtuoso guitarist Tommy Emmanuel has a date the Waikato Regional Theatre on May 19, 2026.

Three more concerts have been added to a rapidly growing calendar of events at the Waikato Regional Theatre.

International acoustic guitar supremo Tommy Emmanuel and two shows by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in May and August next year are the latest confirmed dates - which promise a showcase for the venue as well as the musicians.

Emmanuel, who hails from New South Wales, will make a highly-anticipated return to Hamilton on Tuesday, May 19 next year.

He last played in the Waikato in September 2017 at Claudelands Arena, and before that in August, 2015 at the now-demolished Founders Theatre.

The promotional material for Emmanuel’s upcoming Living in the Light tour denotes that he is formally known as Tommy Emmanuel, CGP - which stands for Certified Guitar Player.

Violinist Vesa-Matti Leppänen will lead the way into an exploration of Finnish folklore in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Myths & Legends concert, which will be held at the Waikato Regional Theatre on May 8.

He will be joined on his New Zealand shows - which also take in dates in Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch - by fellow guitarist Mike Dawes.

Dawes is an English musician who is known for composing, arranging and performing multiple parts simultaneously on a single guitar, and is renowned as one of the world’s most creative modern “fingerstyle“ guitarists.

Emmanuel himself is no slouch when it comes to the fingerstyle technique and his technical precision, virtuosic improvisations and unusually broad repertoire - which encompasses not only country and bluegrass, but pop, jazz, blues, gospel, even classical, flamenco, and aboriginal styles - regularly draws big crowds.

Lovers of classical music can pencil in two dates to see the NZSO at the regional theatre, on May 8 and August 23.

The calendar of events at the Waikato Regional Theatre is rapidly starting to fill. PHOTO:

Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.

The first concert, titled Resurgence, will be conducted by the orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus James Judd, and will feature a world premiere of a new piece by Aotearoa New Zealand composer Anthony Ritchie.

It will also include performances of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony; Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony; and New York composer Jessie Montgomery’s folk-influenced work Strum.

The second concert is called Myths & Legends and will feature Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen and NZSO Concertmaster and violinist Vesa-Matti Leppänen as soloist.

This show will include the New Zealand premiere of Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto.

The programme also features Sibelius’ Pohjola’s Daughter and Lemminkäinen Suite, both inspired by the ancient epic the Kalevala, which tells of the adventures of the wizard Väinämöinen, the hero Lemminkäinen, and their entanglement with the primordial forces of nature, death and magic.

Last week the first show at the new $80 million theatre - a concert by the renowned Soweto Gospel Choir on March 28 - was revealed, with tickets going on sale at Ticketmaster.

The opening date first show at the theatre remains - as of today - still unconfirmed, however an announcement is expected in about a week’s time.