Abstract
This study offers a coherent account of the evolution of composition for the classical guitar in New Zealand, which is exemplified through the performance component of the DMA. The exegesis reveals this evolution through the critical analysis of archival material, the examination of historical developments, and the interviewing of twelve key people who were active in the classical guitar scene from the late 1950s to the present day. It also reflects on the author’s commissioning and/or performing of fifteen major works for guitar by nine New Zealand composers. It examines the drivers that shaped the development of New Zealand guitar music, the factors that led to the creation of key compositions and the role performers have played through collaboration with composers in an attempt to create a significant body of distinctive works. Key findings include identifying that certain important New Zealand composers were, in fact, ahead of their counterparts in other comparable countries in embracing the classical guitar as a viable medium to write for early in their careers, despite there being very few guitarists present to perform their music at the time they wrote it; the importance of the role performers have played in shaping the nature, scope and scale of the repertoire written through collaboration with composers; the importance of the influence of the first New Zealand-born or resident guitarists who laid the foundation for the next generation of performers, particularly for the author; and the development of those early initiatives that has resulted in a substantial and internationally recognised repertoire in the 21st century, continuing a tradition established by Andrés Segovia, cemented by Julian Bream and emulated by many guitarists around the world.