About Mahuia

Mahuia holds a Master of Music from Otago University and was the winner of the Otago Music Post Graduate Scholarship and subsequently pursued postgraduate study at the Australian Institute of Music.

Mahuia's musical life started at age seven. After studying violin with various Auckland teachers he graduated from Auckland University with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Under Mary O’Brien. He then completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Violin with Kevin A. Lefohn and followed on to achieve a Masters of Music from Otago University. After winning the Otago Music Post Graduate Scholarship Mahuia furthered his studies at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney studying under the guidance of Professor Peter Zhang.

Mahuia has performed with many different groups and ensembles over the years beginning with the Aotea Youth Symphony touring Australia and Japan, to becoming a member of the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra. He has played with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, the Dunedin Sinfonia, the Waitakere City Orchestra, the Soweto Strings, The Gaudeamus String Quartet and singer/songwriters like Paul McLaney and Australian DJ Kid Kenobi. He has also toured Indonesia with Indonesia’s No.1 band Dewa and was the soloist at The Last Night of The Proms performing Wieniawski with the Dunedin Sinfonia Conducted by James Sedares.

Mahuia’s interest in contemporary music has always been strong and in 1998 he won the Auckland University Electronic Music Prize and in 2002 gained second place in Wobbly Radio Song Competition. After returning from Australia Mahuia formed the band The Exiles with singer/songwriter Sean Sturm (Nixon’s, Eye TV) and began producing for Simon Holloway at Beaver Studios.

Musicworks and Yamaha currently sponsor Mahuia with a Yamaha Electric Violin EV-240k, with which he performs with various NZ club DJ’s like Roger Perry, Jason Eli Orr and DJ Emma. He also performs with the electric violin in the band Farmer Pimp and his own String Quartet Forvari.