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Welcome to Planet MusicTony Ryan is a conductor, composer, educator and reviewer
based in Christchurch, New Zealand |
Interview recorded on 30 December 2022
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Tony's Latest NewsResonance Ensemble's concert on 21 November: Rebellious Russians - Music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Borodin. was a notable success with pianist Gabriel Baird joining the orchestra for a brilliantly flamboyant performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2.
The four nights of performances by the 2024 Schools Festival Symphony Orchestra on 22-25 October were simply extraordinary. Rossini: William Tell Overture, Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance No. 1, Tchaikovsky: Polichinelles from The Nutcracker. See pictures below. Tony’s latest Troubleshooter features his thoughts on the NZ government’s idea that music education could be deferred in order to improve reading and maths. In September Resonance Ensemble presented Bohemian Rhapsody - Music by Dvořák, Suk, Dohnányi and the orchestra's hugely successful concert of music by New Zealand composers in June - Celebrating Matariki - was exceptionally well-received by a large and enthusiastic audience. You can watch this concert on YouTube. In March, Resonance Ensemble's equally successful Spirit of the Land concert explored three composers' spiritual connections to their respective homelands. The concert opened with Weber's Oberon Overture followed by two symphonic poems - Vltava and Šárka from Smetana's Ma Vlast which celebrated the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, while Sibelius' Symphony No. 3 proved to be a notable highlight for both audience and orchestra. Tony's presented his illustrated talk: Planet Opera - A Parallel Universe again on 26 March 2024 to a very enthusiastic audience from Christchurch's U3A Central at the Christchurch Art Gallery Auditorium. The CSM Sinfonia opened the Christchurch School of Music's first Soirée of 2024 with stunning performances of music by Bernstein and Dvořák in the fabulous acoustic of the Cashmere High School auditorium. Then, in August, their Showcase concert featured music by Tony Ryan, Stravinsky and Rossini. The 2023 Schools' Festival Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tony, received a very enthusiastic reception for its performances at the Christchurch Town Hall in early November with music by Stravinsky and Richard Strauss and Tony's own newest composition HAKA III - Matariki. You can watch the performances on Tony's YouTube channel. On 17 September 2023 Resonance Ensemble presented Confluence, a programme of 20th century Russian and American works, including Shostakovich's extraordinary Symphony No. 9 and a selection of Aaron Copland's Old American Songs with soprano soloist Helen Charlton. |
Resonance Ensemble
Rebellious Russians
Resonance Ensemble's concert on 21 November: Rebellious Russians - Music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Borodin. was a notable success with pianist Gabriel Baird joining the orchestra for a brilliantly flamboyant performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2.
Resonance Ensemble and conductor Tony Ryan presented another unique and surprising programme for their final concert of 2024.
The two main works on the November programme were both by Dmitri Shostakovich, supplemented by some rather quirky miniatures by Igor Stravinsky and a relative rarity by Alexander Borodin.
Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, written in 1957 as a nineteenth birthday present for his son Maxim, is one of the composer’s most cheerful, delightful and melodic works. Young Christchurch pianist Gabriel Baird joined the orchestra for this hugely enjoyable piece.
Another Shostakovich work from the 1950s, his wonderfully uplifting Jazz Suite No. 2, was another special feature of this concert. If the Jazz Suite’s marches, waltzes and dances don’t fully conform to our accepted idea of jazz, they are sheer joy from start to finish. Some of the movements have become well-known through their use in films and TV, and every piece had the audience's toes tapping and hearts pumping.
Stravinsky’s quirky and amusing suites for orchestra date from the early 1920s. The four short movements that comprise Suite No. 2 are full of humour, imagination and flair, with infectious rhythmic drive and the composer’s characteristic instinct for dramatic timing.
Although not frequently played these days, Borodin’s orchestral tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia is wonderfully atmospheric. The music combines a characteristically Russian theme with an Oriental-style melody depicting the varied Western and Asian parts of this vast country.
Look out for Resonance Ensemble's 2025 Season of Sunday afternoon concerts:
Concert dates are 6 April, 15 June, 14 September, 30 November.
Rebellious Russians
Resonance Ensemble's concert on 21 November: Rebellious Russians - Music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Borodin. was a notable success with pianist Gabriel Baird joining the orchestra for a brilliantly flamboyant performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2.
Resonance Ensemble and conductor Tony Ryan presented another unique and surprising programme for their final concert of 2024.
The two main works on the November programme were both by Dmitri Shostakovich, supplemented by some rather quirky miniatures by Igor Stravinsky and a relative rarity by Alexander Borodin.
Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, written in 1957 as a nineteenth birthday present for his son Maxim, is one of the composer’s most cheerful, delightful and melodic works. Young Christchurch pianist Gabriel Baird joined the orchestra for this hugely enjoyable piece.
Another Shostakovich work from the 1950s, his wonderfully uplifting Jazz Suite No. 2, was another special feature of this concert. If the Jazz Suite’s marches, waltzes and dances don’t fully conform to our accepted idea of jazz, they are sheer joy from start to finish. Some of the movements have become well-known through their use in films and TV, and every piece had the audience's toes tapping and hearts pumping.
Stravinsky’s quirky and amusing suites for orchestra date from the early 1920s. The four short movements that comprise Suite No. 2 are full of humour, imagination and flair, with infectious rhythmic drive and the composer’s characteristic instinct for dramatic timing.
Although not frequently played these days, Borodin’s orchestral tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia is wonderfully atmospheric. The music combines a characteristically Russian theme with an Oriental-style melody depicting the varied Western and Asian parts of this vast country.
Look out for Resonance Ensemble's 2025 Season of Sunday afternoon concerts:
Concert dates are 6 April, 15 June, 14 September, 30 November.
- 21 November 2024: Resonance Ensemble presented Rebellious Russinas. Music by Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Borodini.
- 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, The Press (Stuff) and on the Christopher's Classics website
Below: Resonance Ensemble prepares for Rebellious Russians
Thursday 21 November 2024 at The Piano
Below: 2024 Festival Symphony Orchestra in the Christchurch Town Hall
Below: Resonance Ensemble rehearses their Matariki concert of New Zealand Composers
Watch this concert on YouTube
Watch this concert on YouTube
Below: Resonance Ensemble's Spirit of the Land Dress Rehearsal
Below: Resonance Ensemble's Shall We Dance? Concert and Dress Rehearsal
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
Below: Resonance Ensemble warms up before their Danzón concert at The Piano on 25 June 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 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
