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Welcome to Planet MusicTony Ryan is a conductor, composer, educator and reviewer
based in Christchurch, New Zealand |
Latest News
Resonance Ensemble
Conducted by Tony Ryan
Suite Temptations - Music by Humperdinck, Sibelius, Debussy & Fauré
Conducted by Tony Ryan
Suite Temptations - Music by Humperdinck, Sibelius, Debussy & Fauré
On 29 March Resonance Ensemble conducted by Tony Ryan will present a concert of orchestral suites by composers from France, Germany and Finland.
Claude Debussy’s Petite Suite was completed, in its original version for piano duet, by the twenty-six-year-old composer in 1889. Henri Büsser’s 1907 orchestration enhances the insinuating decadence of Debussy’s tuneful and seductive atmosphere, where countesses and rogues, priests and knights, engage in flirting, dreaming and unconsummated temptation.
Like Debussy’s Petite Suite, Gabriel Fauré’s 1919 Masques et Bergamasques was influenced by the poetry of Paul Verlaine, the commedia dell’arte, and the suggestive frivolity of paintings by Watteau and Fragonard. Fauré’s music also shares Debussy’s evocative and nostalgic character.
The same composer’s Dolly Suite is more genuinely innocent in character. Again, like Debussy’s Petite Suite, the Dolly Suite was originally written for piano duet and orchestrated in 1906 by Henri Rabaud. Its evocative scene painting makes us realise that, although ostensibly intended to entertain a five-year-old child, it was also written for everyone.
Also originally conceived as an entertainment for children, Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel resonates with adults as well and has become one of the most successful fairy-tale operas ever created. The composer was a protégé of Wagner, and the overture is flavoured with the sophisticated musical style of Humperdinck’s mentor while maintaining a charm and lightness that is entirely his own. The overture also acknowledges the darker side of the Grimm Brothers’ story but presents it with grace and humour.
In 1898 Jean Sibelius wrote incidental music for King Christian II, a historical play by the Swedish writer Adolf Paul. The composer immediately extracted a suite of five pieces that became his first published orchestral music. The suite’s atmospheric Nocturne was originally an entr’acte, as was the fiery Ballade depicting political turmoil. A yearning string Elegy and a rustic Musette precede an elegant Serenade which was originally the prelude to Act III of the play. This gracious and immediately appealing music has many hallmarks of Sibelius’ later masterpieces – moving, dramatic, colourful and original.
Timeless and soul-stirring themes of drama and humanity open Resonance Ensemble’s 2026 Season with music that will entertain, inspire, and melt your heart – what better way to start the musical year?
Humperdinck – Overture to Hänsel und Gretel
Fauré – Music from Masques et Bergamasques and Dolly Suite
Debussy – Petite Suite
Sibelius – King Christian II Suite
Book here
Claude Debussy’s Petite Suite was completed, in its original version for piano duet, by the twenty-six-year-old composer in 1889. Henri Büsser’s 1907 orchestration enhances the insinuating decadence of Debussy’s tuneful and seductive atmosphere, where countesses and rogues, priests and knights, engage in flirting, dreaming and unconsummated temptation.
Like Debussy’s Petite Suite, Gabriel Fauré’s 1919 Masques et Bergamasques was influenced by the poetry of Paul Verlaine, the commedia dell’arte, and the suggestive frivolity of paintings by Watteau and Fragonard. Fauré’s music also shares Debussy’s evocative and nostalgic character.
The same composer’s Dolly Suite is more genuinely innocent in character. Again, like Debussy’s Petite Suite, the Dolly Suite was originally written for piano duet and orchestrated in 1906 by Henri Rabaud. Its evocative scene painting makes us realise that, although ostensibly intended to entertain a five-year-old child, it was also written for everyone.
Also originally conceived as an entertainment for children, Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel resonates with adults as well and has become one of the most successful fairy-tale operas ever created. The composer was a protégé of Wagner, and the overture is flavoured with the sophisticated musical style of Humperdinck’s mentor while maintaining a charm and lightness that is entirely his own. The overture also acknowledges the darker side of the Grimm Brothers’ story but presents it with grace and humour.
In 1898 Jean Sibelius wrote incidental music for King Christian II, a historical play by the Swedish writer Adolf Paul. The composer immediately extracted a suite of five pieces that became his first published orchestral music. The suite’s atmospheric Nocturne was originally an entr’acte, as was the fiery Ballade depicting political turmoil. A yearning string Elegy and a rustic Musette precede an elegant Serenade which was originally the prelude to Act III of the play. This gracious and immediately appealing music has many hallmarks of Sibelius’ later masterpieces – moving, dramatic, colourful and original.
Timeless and soul-stirring themes of drama and humanity open Resonance Ensemble’s 2026 Season with music that will entertain, inspire, and melt your heart – what better way to start the musical year?
Humperdinck – Overture to Hänsel und Gretel
Fauré – Music from Masques et Bergamasques and Dolly Suite
Debussy – Petite Suite
Sibelius – King Christian II Suite
Book here
Resonance Ensemble - final rehearsals for Sweet Sorrow
Music inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Interview recorded on 29 December 2022
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Resonance Ensemble's first concert of 2026 is on 26 March at The Piano in Christchurch. See details at https://www.resonance.net.nz/ - Book now.
Resonance Ensemble's final concert of the 2025 season was Sweet Sorrow featuring music inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on 30 November CSM Sinfonia's concert on 22 November celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss II The Schools Music Festival Orchestra played magnificently over four nights from 4 to 7 November in the Christchurch Town Hall. Watch their performances on YouTube. Resonance Ensemble's concert on 14 September - Wayfarers was a hugely enjoyable event with music by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Mahler You can watch Resonance Ensemble's Music for Matariki concert on YouTube. This concert, on 15 June, featured works by New Zealand composers and included Tony's own Saxophone Concerto with soprano saxophone soloist Alice Morgan, as well as music by John Ritchie, Anthony Ritchie and Claire Cowan. Resonance Ensemble's concert on 6 April - Waifs & Strays with music by Rossini, Punto, Bissill and Prokofiev was a notable success with French Horn soloist Alex Morton giving a brilliantly flamboyant performance of Giovanni Punto's Horn Concerto No. 5 and Richard Bissill's Fat Belly Blues. Prokofiev's Symphony No. 7 was a real find and the orchestra rose magnificently to its many challenges. Last November, Resonance Ensemble's Rebellious Russians concert - Music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Borodin was another innovative programme with pianist Gabriel Baird joining the orchestra for a stunning performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2. The latest Troubleshooter is prompted by this year's Shostakovich anniversary and talks about musical 'blind spots'. |
Recent Concerts and Events
- 30 November 2025: Resonance Ensemble presented Sweet Sorrow. - Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Bernstein, Gounod, Rota, Hextall
- 22 November 2025 CSM Sinfonia performed music by Smetana, Gounod, Johann Strauss
- 4 - 7 November 2025: Schools Festival Symphony Orchestra. Music by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Stravinsky.
- 14 September 2025: Resonance Ensemble presented Wayfarers. Music by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Mahler.
- 26 July 2025 CSM Sinfonia performed music by Chabrier, Lloyd Webber and J.Strauss II at the Christchurch Town Hall
- 15 June 2025: Resonance Ensemble presented Music for Matariki. Music by New Zealand composers
- 3 May 2025: CSM Sinfonia performed a programme of music by Bizet, Mussorgsky and Satie
- 6 April 2025: Resonance Ensemble presented Waifs & Strays. Music by Rossini, Punto, Bissill and Prokofiev.
- 21 November 2024: Resonance Ensemble presented Rebellious Russians. Music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Borodin.
- 22 - 25 October 2025: Schools Festival Symphony Orchestra. Music by Rossini, Elgar, Tchaikovsky
- 22 September 2024: Resonance Ensemble presented Bohemian Rhapsody. Music by Dvořák, Suk and Dohnányi.
- 17 August 2024: The CSM Sinfonia orchestra performed music by Ryan, Stravinsky and Rossini.
- 30 June 2024: Resonance Ensemble presented Celebrating Matariki. Music by a cluster of New Zealand composers.
- 16 March 2024: The CSM Sinfonia orchestra performed music by Bernstein and Dvořāk.
- 24 March 2024: Resonance Ensemble presented Spirit of the Land. Music by Sibelius, Smetana and Weber.
- 26 March 2024: Illustrated talk at the Christchurch Art Gallery Auditorium entitled Planet Opera - A Parallel Universe
- Tony's latest reviews can be found on Theatreview, and The Press (Stuff)
Festival Symphony Orchestra 4 - 7 November 2025
Pre-concert rehearsal for Resonance Ensemble's Wayfarers programme
Alice Morgan, soloist in Tony's Saxophone Concerto, with Resonance Ensemble on 15 June 2025
Below: Sinfonia performs at the Christchurch Town Hall, 26 July 2025
Below: Sinfonia presents a programme of music by Bizet, Mussorgsky and Satie on 3 May 2025
Below: Resonance Ensemble prepares for Waifs & Strays, 6 April 2025, at The Piano
Below: 2024 Festival Symphony Orchestra in the Christchurch Town Hall
Below: Resonance Ensemble rehearses their Matariki concert of New Zealand Composers, 30 June 2024. You can watch this concert on YouTube
Below: Resonance Ensemble's Spirit of the Land Dress Rehearsal, 24 March 2024
Below: Resonance Ensemble's Shall We Dance? Concert and Dress Rehearsal, 26 November 2023
Below: Conducting CSM Sinfonia's Flashmob at Northlands Shopping Centre on 4 November 2023
Below: Sinfonia warms up before their concert at The Charles Luney Auditiorium on 19 August 2023
Below: Resonance Ensemble warms up before their Danzón concert at The Piano on 25 June 2023, to a full house!
Below: Resonance Ensemble rehearses with saxophone soloist Mark Walton for their Danzón concert at The Piano
Below: Resonance Ensemble presented A Tuba Comes to Town on 4 December 2022 at The Piano in Christchurch.
The highlight of this programme was the premiere of Tony's Tuba Concerto
with soloist Thomas Allely, Principal Tuba of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
The highlight of this programme was the premiere of Tony's Tuba Concerto
with soloist Thomas Allely, Principal Tuba of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Below: A few pictures from CSM’s final event for 2022
Tony conducts the CSM Intermediate Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia in music from the fifteenth century to the twenty first
Tony conducts the CSM Intermediate Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia in music from the fifteenth century to the twenty first
Below: Tony conducts the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival Symphony Orchestra
for its hugely successful performances at the Christchurch Town Hall on 1-4 November 2022
for its hugely successful performances at the Christchurch Town Hall on 1-4 November 2022
Below: Tony's CSM Sinfonia presented a Flashmob at two Christchurch Shopping Centres (Merivale and Northlands) on 3 September 2022
