Draft:Martin Lodge (composer)

Lodge was born in 1954 in Tauranga.^[1] He studied English and German at the University of Waikato graduating with an MA in English literature.^[2] He went on to do an MMus in composition at Victoria University of Wellington under Douglas Lilburn and David Farquhar^[1] followed by a PhD in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.^[2]

After spending 13 years as a freelance composer, while doing a variety of other jobs, he was the Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago in 1990 and 1991.^[1][2][3] In 1993 he was the Composer in Residence at the Auckland Philharmonia.^[3] He took up a position at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Waikato in 1995 where he founded the music department and was instrumental in creating a performing arts venue, the Dr John Gallagher Concert Chamber.^[1][2][4] He was responsible for archiving the works of music historian and writer John Mansfield Thomson at the university.^[1]

He initiated the study of Māori music for the Bachelor of Music degree and commissioned a set of traditional Māori instruments, taonga pūoro, for the university.^[1][4] He composed several works using taonga pūoro: Toru (2003) which was dedicated to Hirini Melbourne, Hau (2005) and Oiche ghealai (moonlit night) (2009).^[5][6][7]

Lodge was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2022 and died in Hamilton on 18 December 2024.^[8][9]

• Lodge, M. (2003). John Mansfield Thomson: Selected Writings. Steele Roberts Ltd.
• Lodge, M., & Ulenberg, P. (2007). History in the making: The John Mansfield Thomson Archive at the University of Waikato. Canzona, 28(49), 96–97.

• Toru (2003) – for taonga pūoro, cello and clarinet
• Hau (2005) – for cello and taonga pūoro
• Oiche ghealai (moonlit night) (2009) – for taonga pūoro and flute