Wellington
Guitar Lessons | Artist development, Ensemble Coaching, Song Writing Workshops, Theory Lessons, Online Lessons
Bio
Learn from the best!
Gunter Herbig was born in Brazil and grew up in Portugal and Germany. Influenced by such different cultures and aesthetic languages, he has developed a highly personal, charismatic, and expressive style of playing and performance. The balance of Brazilian sensuousness, intense Portuguese passion and German intellect and finesse is the hallmark of his playing. Since moving to New Zealand in 1989 he has made numerous national concert tours and has a busy performance schedule which has taken him to South America, Central America, and Europe, where he appears as a soloist and chamber musician in concerts and festivals. He has performed on several live broadcasts on television and radio in New Zealand and Mexico and has recorded for a number of film scores and television documentaries.
He served as the Head of Classical Guitar and Chamber Music at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington and taught guitar performance, chamber music, pedagogy and repertoire studies at the School of Music at Auckland University for 24 years. Gunter has released 8 CDs on international labels, including the leading most prestigious independent classical label BIS and the biggest classical music label Naxos.
2022 saw two boundary breaking releases. The German label Aldilà Records released “Wherever I Go…”, music by Arvo Pärt transcribed for the electric guitar and “Flower of the Sea” was released by the iconic NZ label Rattle.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Yjg0D4ZKf060awLcVvcph
https://music.apple.com/mn/artist/gunter-herbig/213417959
Teaching Info
Guitar lessons from the country’s foremost guitar teacher with over 35 years of experience at all levels.
Lessons are one on one in my house in Hataitai in Wellington or via Skype.
Internationally acclaimed concert guitarist Gunter Herbig has taught at all major university music departments in New Zealand and was invited to teach masterclasses at universities in Argentina, Mexico and Germany. Gunter was Head of Guitar and Chamber Music at the New Zealand School of Music until January 2008 and taught classical guitar performance at Auckland University from 1991 until 2015. Gunter now teaches freelance in his private studio in Hataitai and invites guitarists of all levels to study – the only prerequisite being enthusiasm!
NCEA performance
My NCEA performance students have consistently achieved excellence in their NCEA assessments. I am well versed with the curriculum requirements and work closely with their school’s music departments.
Go all the way!
Former classical guitar students include:
Bruce Paine (internationally renowned guitarist and guitar composer)
John Couch (multiple international guitar competition winner, NZ Guitar Quartet)
Dr. Jane Curry (international guitar competition winner and now Head of Guitar Studies at the New Zealand School of Music, NZ Guitar Quartet)
Discography:
Hauturu – Where the Winds Rest (2007)
Music by Bach, Villa-Lobos and Rimmer
Ode Records (CDMANU 5016)
Prospero Dreaming (2009)
NZ Guitar Music by Douglas Lilburn and David Farquhar
Naxos 8.572185
Dream Weaving (June 2017)
NZ Guitar Music Vol. II (Music by David Farquhar, Bruce Paine, John Elmsly and John
Rimmer)
Naxos 8.573765
ex oriente (May 2019)
Music by G.I. Gurdjieff/T. de Hartmann arranged for the electric guitar
BIS-2435 CD
Waitemata Reverie (2019)
NZ Guitar Music Vol. III (guitar music by Bruce Paine)
Naxos 8.574121
Tristorosa (2021)
Guitar Music by H. Villa-Lobos
Aldilà Records ARCD 018
Wherever I Go… (2022)
Music by Arvo Pärt
Aldilà Records ARCD 021
Flower of the Sea (2022)
Music by Cage, Albéniz, Sculthorpe, Domeniconi and Lilburn
Rattle Records RAT-D125
Critics’ voices:
“Arvo Pärt on electric guitar? Oh yes! Of course, we are far from the traditional guitar hero here, but in my opinion, there is something heroic in wanting to interpret such bare music, so pure in its economy and its search for the essential sound, on an instrument so associated with spectacular virtuosity and expressionist thunder.
In any case, the gamble is entirely successful! Guitarist Günter Herbig, who made the arrangements himself, has brilliantly transferred the mystical minimalism of the Estonian composer to the reverberating sound world of the electric guitar. Played with angelic sweetness, Herbig’s Gretsch White Falcon captures the essence of Pärt’s sonic purity while offering a little extra soul in the form of an unusually inhabited and embraced sound space. The sound of the electric instrument, gently caressed rather than pinched by its master, thus becomes a kind of original synthesis between the organic and the electromagnetic. We enter a sound dimension adapted to one thing only: beneficial contemplation, a refuge from the horrors of the world.
Wherever I Go… is a real lesson in “zenitude” by one of the great poets of the contemporary electric guitar. Wherever you go, the music on this album, and especially its spirit, will stay with you for a long time.”
Frédéric Cardin, panm360.com
“On electric guitar, Herbig ranges more widely than (Keith) Jarrett… While this may seem an almost academic project – the first such interpretation of Gurdjieff’s music on electric guitar? – this quiet, considered and intimate music never feels like that in Gunter Herbig’s assured and empathetic hands.” Graham Reid, April 2019
https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/8914/gunter-herbig-ex-oriente-music-by-gi-gurdjieff-bis/
(Ulrich Hermann, The New Listener), October 2017:
“On the whole, this second CD by Gunter Herbig is a masterpiece, as it is very rarely heard in the inexhaustible – almost sprawling – repertoire of guitar music on such a high musical and authentically lived level”
(Hans Hofer, Coburger Tageblatt), January 2006:
“(Gunter Herbig) is an absolute master of his metier; he performed with dreamlike secure virtuosity, from breathed harmonics to fully realised orchestral flights of an entirely explored dynamic scale”
Ricardo from LaGuitare.com (France), November 2007:
“His playing is incredible, how can you communicate such power with an instrument just made of wood and nylon strings?
…Fabulous, totally and extraordinarily fabulous.”
William Dart, NZ Herald, about “Prospero Dreaming”:
“Gunter Herbig is one of our finest guitarists… The essential character of much of the music on this CD comes from its sounding as if it might have been improvised on the spot. That Herbig has conveyed this impression, with no sacrifice of tonal beauty or structural logic, is a mark of his artistry.” (Five stars)
Students’ comments:
My son is privileged to be learning the guitar from a gifted teaching and performing professional. We lived in Europe for many years, and when we came back I didn’t expect for my son to have access to a music teacher operating at that level. Thank you Gunter!
Gunter taught our teenage daughter classical guitar. With his tuition she achieved high grades in NCEA 2 & 3 performance music without taking the subject at school. The music she plays is wonderful. Gunter came highly recommended (by another music teacher) and we would pass on our recommendations to anyone.
***** (five stars) I've been enjoying weekly lessons with Gunter for two years and he is the most patient, easy going, funny, flexible and ridiculously talented teacher you will ever find - I recently watched him performing with the NZSO. Regardless of your age or level he will be nothing but encouraging and will patiently bring out the very best in you without pressure. I honestly can't imagine a better teacher.
Geoff Infield
***** (five stars) Gunter taught our teenage daughter classical guitar. With his tuition she achieved high grades in NCEA 2 & 3 performance music without taking the subject at school. The music she plays is wonderful. Gunter came highly recommended (by another music teacher) and we would pass on our recommendations to anyone.
