Biographie

GUNTER HERBIG was born in Brazil and grew up in Portugal and Germany. 

He studied performance in classical guitar in Lübeck, Germany and achieved a degree in Instrumental Teaching and Performance under Professor Albert Aigner.

He was awarded the first Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Auckland University.

INFLUENCED BY SUCH DIFFERENT CULTURES and aesthetic languages, Gunter has developed a highly personal, charismatic and expressive style of playing and performance which sets him well apart from his contemporaries. The balance of Brazilian sensuousness, Portuguese intense passion and German intellect and finesse are the hallmark of his playing. His performance and interpretation philosophy centers on the personal and subjective approach to music as a direct way to create an even triangle between the composer, the performer and the audience and puts the sense of musical adventure and exploration back on stage. Gunter's dynamic and expressive sense of adventure has made him an audience favorite on the concert platform wherever he goes and has solicited universal praise by critics in the music world.

SINCE MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND in 1989, Gunter has made numerous national concert tours of this country 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 on concert platforms 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.

A 'NATIONAL RECORDING ARTIST' for Radio New Zealand, Gunter has a very special interest in contemporary and early music and has premiered a number of vital New Zealand guitar works.

AS A CHAMBER MUSICIAN, Gunter has performed and recorded nationally and internationally with many important New Zealand musicians and was invited to accompany Luciano Pavarotti in his only New Zealand performance with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999.

GUNTER IS NOW A FREELANCE PERFORMING ARTIST and teacher for the classical guitar in Wellington. As the preeminent guitar teacher in New Zealand, Gunter has been the Head of Classical Guitar and Chamber Music at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington and taught Guitar and Chamber Music at Auckland University.

 

Discographie

Not content with only playing original guitar music of the 20/21st centuries, Gunter is currently transcribing works from other instruments for the guitar by New Zealand's most important composers.

One of these adventurous transcriptions of a bass clarinet piece was created in collaboration with the composer, John Rimmer. This transcription explores new and unheard techniques which extend the traditional boundaries of the classical guitar playing. Called "HAUTURU – WHERE THE WINDS REST", this transcription is the title track of his debut solo CD, released in 2007 by Ode Records.

A first for a New Zealand classical guitar CD, “Hauturu” has already spent seven weeks in Radio New Zealand’s Classical Top Ten Chart and occupied Marbecks Records No 1 place in the classical chart.

Gunter’s next CD “Prospero Dreaming – New Zealand Guitar Music by Douglas Lilburn and David Farquhar” will be released in 2008 by NAXOS, the world’s biggest classical music label.

 

Cordes jouées

"For many years, I have played and enjoyed Savarez Alliance Corum and Alliance with polished bass strings and have recommended my many students to do so as well".

Commentaires de Critiques

William Dart, New Zealand Herald, December 2007:

AIt is not difficult to be won over by Gunter Herbig's Hauturu: Where the Winds Rest. On the booklet is a classy Laurence Aberhart image, on the disc solo guitar music by Bach, Villa Lobos and Rimmer; this is one classy release with an ECM look and sound to it.
Guitar aficionados will appreciate Villa Lobos' Twelve Etudes where Herbig goes back to the composer's original manuscript, with meltingly beautiful results.@

Ricardo from LaGuitare.com (France), November 2007:

"Son jeu est incroyable, comment peut on faire passer autant de force avec un instrument en bois à cordes nylon ? Bon sang c'est incroyable ce qu'il en tire, ce morceau fait référence aux vents, à ce qu'ils emportent sur leur passage, à ce qu'il reste après eux et, Gunter parvient à nous faire entendre ce vent...
...Fabuleux, totalement et extraordinairement fabuleux."
(AHis playing is incredible, how can you communicate such power with an instrument just made of wood and nylon strings? My goodness, it is incredible how he pulls them (the strings); this piece makes reference to the wind, how it makes its passage and comes to rest and Gunter manages to make us hear this wind...
...Fabulous, totally and extraordinarily fabulous.@)

For the whole review please go to the link:
http://www.laguitare.com/cd_album/gunter_herbig_nov2007.html

David Leisner, Professor for Guitar, Manhattan School of Music - New York, September 2007:

"It's a fascinating recording - Gunter Herbig is his own man. He interprets Bach and, particularly, Villa-Lobos unlike anyone else you've ever heard; originality is something I prize highly and I liked the Villa-Lobos especially for its independence of thinking and for the beauty of sound."

(Jack Body), April 2007:

"I was excited by the Lilburn pieces - none of the previous performances (or recordings) I've heard have had as much life and musicality as your version. Terrific!"

(Hans Höfer, Coburger Tageblatt), January 2006:

"...an absolute master of his metier……performed with dreamlike secure virtuosity……from breathed harmonics to fully realised orchestral flights of an entirely explored dynamic scale……"