Guitarist Jonathan Fitzgerald, currently based in Perth, Australia, releases an engaging collection of premieres for electric guitar, with and without electronics, solo, and in chamber settings. This collection reflects the broad range of aesthetics at play in new guitar music, with fresh perspectives from three composers from Australia and New Zealand that give a glimpse into a distinct musical scene.
Jonathan Fitzgerald, classical guitarist
New Focus Recordings is an artist led collective label featuring releases in contemporary music of many stripes, as well as new approaches to older repertoire. The label was founded by guitarist Daniel Lippel (who is the current director), composer engineer Ryan Streber, and composer Peter Gilbert in 2003-4, and features releases from many of new music’s most active performers and composers.
New Focus Recordings – New Music
Luminescence by Jonathan Fitzgerald, New Focus Recordings, 2023
Luminescence | Jonathan Fitzgerald | New Focus Recordings (bandcamp.com)
Electroluminescence was an immersive multimedia concert of works for electric guitar, electronics, and visual projections. The program featured world premiere performances of three new commissions from Australian and international composers, including two-time Aria Award-winning composer James Ledger (WA), Gulli Bjornsson (Iceland), and emerging composer Victor Arul (WA), alongside the Australian premiere of works by Eve Beglarian (USA), Alison Isadora (NZ), and Jacob TV (Netherlands). Presented by Tura New Music as part of the 2022 Fringe World Festival, Electroluminescence premiered at Lyric’s Underground on January 19 2022. Awarded a 9/10, X-Press Magazine hailed Electroluminescence as “nothing less than heroic in proportion…and an important contribution to the repertoire of audio-visual works for electric guitar.”
credits
releases March 3, 2023
Recorded at the University of Western Australia February—July 2022
All images © Lyle Branson
NeuGuitars 