Beloved New Zealand music icon dies just days after 70th birthday
Beloved New Zealand composer Martin Lodge has died just days after reaching his 70th birthday.
The musician and professor, internationally known, died on December 18 at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton after being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2022.
Lodge received widespread acclaim among music lovers for incorporating traditional Maori instruments, rock music and computers into his compositions.
The Center for New Zealand Music (Sounz) paid tribute to the innovative composer via social media last month.
“We are saddened to report the passing of dear New Zealand composer Martin Lodge, who passed away peacefully in hospital earlier this week, having just celebrated his 70th birthday,” Sounz posted on Instagram.
Lodge, who was also a musicologist, was a much admired figure at the University of Waikato where he taught for 27 years.
Beloved New Zealand composer Martin Lodge has died just days after reaching his 70th birthday. Lodge received widespread acclaim among music lovers for incorporating traditional Maori instruments, rock music and computers into his compositions. (Pictured)
In 2023, he received the title of professor emeritus from the institution.
“Professor Lodge has made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand music and the development of music at the University of Waikato,” the university said in an official statement. tribute in December.
Their obituary also said: ‘He conceived, commissioned and raised funds for the university’s collection of traditional instruments, Te Kohinga Taonga Pūoro.’
Lodge was also the first professor of music at the Uni of Waikato and was crucial to the development of music as a subject for academic research.
Lodge was born in Tauranga in 1953 and began his career as a freelance composer after studying music and languages in New Zealand and in Australia at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney.
He later became musician in residence at the University of Otago and composer in residence for the Auckland Philharmonia.
Lodge began his decades-long collaboration at the University of Waikato in 1995.
His compositions have been regularly performed in New Zealand, North America and Europe, Sounz reports in their official biography of the composer.
The internationally renowned teacher and musician died on December 18 at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton after being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2022.
His works include pieces composed for the Eyes Trio in New Zealand and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
His best-known pieces include Hinterland, composed in 1998, and Toru (2003), written for traditional Maori instruments such as cello and clarinet.
In 2011 he also recorded a CD with his music.
Lodge is survived by his wife, daughter Alexandra and son Maximillian and grandchildren Theodore and Winnie.
The New Zealand herald‘s obituary added, “He will be deeply mourned by many friends in Aotearoa and beyond, but none more so than his beloved siblings and their families; Trish (Auckland), Barbara (Queensland), Katrina (Geraldine) and Graeme (Tasmania).”