Love poems by award-winning poet Alistair Te Ariki Campbell and his wife Meg Campbell are being brought to life by classical guitarist Matthew Marshall with the help of his uncle, dance legend Sir Jon Trimmer.
Marshall, who commissioned New Zealand composer Philip Norman to create the guitar music for the poems the Campbells wrote during their early and middle years of their marriage, is performing the new work in Dunedin as Te Ariki Campbell lived in the city during his childhood, attended Otago Boys' High School and went to University of Otago.
''It's particularly fitting that the first performance is taking place in Dunedin.''
The guitarist, from Wellington, also has his own connections to the city - he is completing his doctoral studies at Otago University, attracted by the chance to work with composer Anthony Ritchie.
This project It's Love, Isn't It? is part of his studies and comes out of his working relationship with Trimmer.
''We have worked together before combining music and poetry reading.''
It goes back to the early 1990s when Marshall was hired by the Royal New Zealand Ballet as part of a band accompanying a production of Hamlet, which toured New Zealand and England.
''Jon was in the company then performing, so I was accompanying him back then.''
Trimmer, who had a parallel career as an actor, is now easing himself out of dancing so it was perfect timing for the pair to think about doing another poetry and music project.
''People had really enjoyed the earlier projects we have done, so we thought we should do something really significant.''
Trimmer suggested Te Ariki Campbell and Campbell's poetry and as Norman knew the poet, who died in 2009, and had written about him, he was the obvious choice to write the music.
''The stunning poetry of Alistair and Meg has been a favourite of mine for a long time, and so has the beautiful music of Philip Norman. It's just wonderful that we've been able to bring these together,'' Trimmer says.
Trimmer also lives in Paekakariki, on the Kapiti Coast, where the pair lived.
''There are a lot of nice connections between all the people involved.''
They received funding from Creative New Zealand and the New Zealand Guitar Foundation to make the nearly 30-minute work, which includes 15 different pieces of guitar music.
Trimmer narrates the part of Te Ariki Campbell and actor Tina Regtien plays the part of Campbell.
For Marshall, it is a continuation of his drive to commission composers to write classical guitar music.
He has commissioned more than 60 pieces from New Zealand composers in his more than 30-year career.
''It's part of what I do. I want to leave a legacy, so I have generated a lot of music through commissions.''
The latest piece is also a contribution to New Zealand art as it is a cross-disciplinary work.
''It's not just me sitting playing guitar. There is a theatrical element: poetry and music.''
It was especially important given classical guitar musicians were a small group in New Zealand, he says.
''Like any musical career it is difficult, especially in the classical music world.''
So many musicians have what they call a ''portfolio'' career where they combine performing with teaching, recording and arts administration.
Marshall has a parallel academic career, having senior academic leadership roles in Australia and New Zealand and teaching jobs in those countries. He also holds master classes in Europe, Asia and the United States.
''I've been able to keep going, continuing to perform.''
Part of his doctoral studies has involved studying the history of guitar in New Zealand - he has discovered connections going back as far as the early to mid-1800s.
''It's been fascinating delving into that area in my research.''
He has performed more than 2000 times on four continents - from Iceland to Siberia and Easter Island.
After seven years in Australia, Marshall is moving back to New Zealand to become professor of music at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier.
He is also working on his 12th recording.
His interest in guitar came from growing up in a musical family, with parents who were dancers and siblings who played an instrument.
''It was just a thing my family did and I stuck with it.''
He tried playing rock music in a band at school - ''we weren't very good'' - but always gravitated back to classical music.
''I have a broad interest in music; I love jazz and experimental avant-garde music.''
Marshall went on to study music at the University of Victoria. He won the TVNZ Young Musicians Competition in 1988 and was a recipient of an AGC Young Achievers Award and the UDC/Rotary Musicians Prize in 1989.
That enabled him to go to the United Kingdom to study at the Royal Northern College of Music.
A few ''breaks'' along the way, including being recorded and paid by Radio New Zealand, convinced him that he could make a career of it.
''I though 'Wow, I can play music and get paid'.''
That, along with lots of encouragement from his family and seeing his uncle's successful ballet career, drove him on.
''I'm very fortunate to do what I love for a job.''
This latest concert will also include chamber music for guitar featuring Dunedin stars Tessa Petersen (violin) and Heleen du Plessis (cello) performing music by Ritchie and Kenneth Young, and solo guitar music by Dugal McKinnon and Michael Calvert.
To see
It’s Love, Isn’t it?, Marama Hall, University of Otago, tomorrow 7pm.
- Poet, novelist and playwright of Cook Island and European descent
- Lived in northern Cook Islands until he was 7
- When his parents died, he was sent to live with family in Dunedin
- He was later sent to an orphanage
- Represented Otago in sport while at Otago Boys’ High School
- Attended the University of Otago
- His first important poems reflected his time in Central Otago
- In the 1950s he gained a BA at Wellington University and then a teaching diploma
- Married Meg Andersen in 1958
- Suffered a breakdown in the 1960s
- In 1979, he toured New Zealand with Sam Hunt, Hone Tuwhare and Jan Kemp.
- Alistair Campbell: Collected Poems won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry in 1982
- He received Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement
- He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005
- Published more than 20 volumes of poetry
- After his wife died, he edited a joint collection of their love poems called It’s Love, Isn’t It? (2008)
- Born in 1925 in Rarotonga, Te Ariki Campbell died August 16, 2009, in Wellington aged 84
