As a writer, editor, critic, educator, broadcaster and composer, Dr William Dart brings a wealth of knowledge and insight to his commentaries on New Zealand music. He’s one of this country’s leading music critics. From 1977 to 2002 he reviewed regularly for the NZ Listener and, since then he’s been the music critic for the New Zealand Herald. In 1988, William Dart founded and edited the important quarterly, Music in New Zealand which he published through until 2002. Dart also broadcasts regularly on Radio New Zealand Concert, including his long-running programme on rock music, New Horizons. The Lilburn Trust and the Alexander Turnbull Library hosted the second annual Lilburn Lecture in the Adam Concert Room at Victoria University, Wellington; on Lilburn's 99th Birthday. In his lecture, entitled Signatures and Footprints, William Dart talks about the complexity of securing identity and individuality in music.

The Lilburn Lecture is jointly organised by the Lilburn Trust and the Alexander Turnbull library. Named after the New Zealand composer who instigated the Archive of New Zealand Music within the Turnbull Library and established the Lilburn Trust, the lecture is held annually on Douglas Lilburn’s birthday, 2nd November. Speakers are invited to talk on a subject of their choosing about music and New Zealand.