His fingers sweep across the fretboard with expert refinement. The notes pile on top of one another, and it’s the sounds of Latin American music rendered on guitar.

            Musician Warren Nicholson has seen the release of his album Latin American Guitar Favourites on Sept. 1, 2013. And he couldn’t be happier regarding its completion.

            “It felt great,” Nicholson recalls. “It was very satisfying to know that you catalogued stuff you’d been playing for many, many years.”  

            It was his dedication to music and the resultant busy lifestyle that drove Nicholson to finally sit down and begin the conception of the album.

            “I was playing a bunch of concerts in Toronto a few years ago, and my wife was kind of cajoling me into making a record,” Nicholson says. “She said you’ve been teaching all these people for all these years, and you’ve been playing all these concerts, it’s probably time you did something, and I agreed with her.”  

            Regarding the song selections, Nicholson felt it was appropriate to perform Latin American music due to its historical connections with classical guitar. He also feels the album well represents composers who come from that part of the world.

            “I think for the classical guitar, a lot of its history is either from Spain or Latin America,” Nicholson says. “And I think most of the stuff I gravitate toward and I tend to play is from that part of the world.” 

            For Nicholson, music was always a big part of his life, and ran in the family. His father was a music lover and constantly played big band music and top 40. His father’s mother was also a piano player and piano teacher.

            In his early teens Nicholson picked up a guitar and began taking lessons. When he became more serious about it, he took lessons in Montreal and learned under John Donovan, a friend of his father’s.

            From there, Nicholson went on to graduate from McMaster University and the Manhattan School of Music in ’91 and ’94 respectively. He taught at the Boys Choir of Harlem for four years following this.

            In 2000 he got married and established a private teaching studio simply named Warren Nicholson’s Guitar Studio.

“I’ve been busy quite a long time,” he says half-jokingly. And it’s true. Aside from providing music lessons, performing concerts, recording an album and acquiring an education, he also won the 1997 International Artists Auditions.

This led to a privileged performance at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in 1998.

            “It was nerve-wracking, to say the least,” says Nicholson. “It was a great cathartic moment, it was great to play, great to prepare for. And I got one good review out of it, and I was able to use some of that stuff to help further get work after the event.”

            Currently, Nicholson is hopeful in regards to possibly doing another album, and plans to record a collection of Spanish songs within the next six to nine months.

            “Centaur Records in Louisiana and Baton Rouge in Louisiana were interested in releasing it, so that’s promising,” Nicholson says. “It’s just a matter of getting the time, the repertoire and the licenses to do it.”

If you’re passionate about music, Nicholson has some advice: “Don’t sit around and wait for things to happen in this field,” he says. “You’re going to have to make things happen for yourself.”