Wai-te-ata Music Press was established by Douglas Lilburn in 1967 as a non-profit 'composer facility', producing inexpensive editions of New Zealand music for performance and study, and this continues to be the Press's main function. Since 1981, when composer Jack Body took up the editorship, Wai-te-ata Music Press has become the largest publisher of New Zealand music, with over 250 scores in its
catalogue. The press is now a research centre of Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music (NZSM). Senior Lecturer Michael Norris is now editor of Wai-te-ata Music Press following Associate Professor Jack Body's retirement. More than 70 composers are represented, spanning several generations from Lilburn, Farquhar, Carr and Pruden through to emerging figures such as Dylan Lardelli, Karlo Margetic, Miriama Young and Alexandra Hay. While many of the early scores were originally published as facsimiles of composer manuscripts, most have now been computer-set. Sets of performance parts for selected chamber works are available for hire. Wai-te-ata Music Press has also released 13 CDs to match works in its catalogue. The 'Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music' was launched in 1999 with 'A Violin and Piano Recital' (Mark Menzies and Dan Poynton) and has presented Composer Portraits of Ross Harris, Jack Body, Gillian Whitehead, John Rimmer and Jenny McLeod. The latest CD in the series is a collection of works for piano, four hands.
