Login

Enter your username and password

Jonathon (Jon) Fitzgerald (b. 19 July, 1954) is a guitarist, composer and music academic.

Jon completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland in 1974, and a Bachelor of Music (first class hons) in 1979. Between 1979 and 1982 he divided his time between study, freelance performance, and composition/arranging. In 1983 Jon took up a full-time position as lecturer in music at the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education - teaching guitar, music education, composition and music history. During the 1980s he performed widely as a classical guitarist soloist and ensemble member.

During this first career phase, Jon wrote, performed and recorded numerous compositions for guitar - either solo or in combination with other instruments - as well as pieces for string trio, jazz quartet, concert band, and choir. His String Trio was awarded the University of Queensland's Percy Brier Memorial Prize, and he performed and recorded many of his guitar compositions with the ABC - including his Concertino for Guitar and Orchestra with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

In the early 1990s Jon spent time in the USA conducting research towards a PhD on the development of popular songwriting. He became senior lecturer in music theory and history at Southern Cross University (SCU) in 1994, and his PhD was awarded in 1997. He was appointed associate professor in 2001 and took on the leadership of the contemporary music program in 2003.

During a successful career as a music academic Jon published numerous journal articles and book chapters on aspects of popular musicology, and his music theory textbook (Popular Music Theory and Musicianship) has been used widely within the tertiary education sector. He retired from SCU in 2010 but continued work in an Adjunct Associate Professor role for several years.

Jon's creative activity as a composer and performer was reinvigorated with the formation of contemporary acoustic-electric guitar trio "d'volv" (with fellow SCU lecturers Jim Kelly and Peter Martin) in 1999. The group performed original roots-based contemporary instrumental compositions with musical influences from Spain, Ireland, Latin America, blues and jazz. d'volv released two critically-acclaimed CDs (D'volv 2000, Africussia 2003) and toured in Australia, South-East Asia and South Korea. Jon also began composing 'production' music in 2004 and he continues to write and record music for this area.

In 2025 Jon began to re-engage with composition for choral groups, and his composition activity is now focussed on this area. He has written numerous compositions for school and community SA and SSA choirs, as well as SATB and SSAATTBB works for intermediate and advanced choirs.

Jon Fitzgerald — current to April 2026