[2] After spending 13 years as a freelance composer, while doing a variety of other jobs, he was the Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago in 1990 and 1991.

[3] He took up a position at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Waikato in 1995 where he founded the music department and was instrumental in creating a performing arts venue, the Dr John Gallagher Concert Chamber.

[1][2][4] He was responsible for archiving the works of music historian and writer John Mansfield Thomson at the university.

[1][4] He composed several works using taonga pūoro: Toru (2003) which was dedicated to Hirini Melbourne, Hau (2005) and Oiche ghealai (moonlit night) (2009).

[5][6][7] Lodge was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2022, and died in Hamilton on 18 December 2024, at the age of 70.