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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 News
Look out for Resonance Ensemble's next concert on 15 June. This will feature New Zealand composers, including Tony's own Saxophone Concerto with soprano saxophone soloist Mark Hobson, along with music by John Ritchie, Anthony Ritchie, Claire Cowan and Pieta Hextall.
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 playinga brilliantly flamboyant performance of Giovanni Punto's Horn Concerto No. 5 and Richard Billiss'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. Tony’s latest Troubleshooter continies his promotion of increased support for music education. |
Resonance Ensemble
Waifs & Strays
A programme of some of the musical orphans and ragamuffins of classical music
Resonance Ensemble and conductor Tony Ryan delve into some less well-known music by Rossini and Prokofiev, as well as a hidden gem from an almost completely unknown composer.
Rossini’s comic opera Il Signor Bruschino is rarely heard these days although its sparkling overture is one of the composer’s most delightful – full of spirit and some novel special effects.
Another forgotten waif is the composer and horn player Jan Václav Stich who translated his name to Giovanni Punto when he ran away from home at the age of 20 and went to Italy. Our horn soloist for this concert, Alex Morton, suggested we include Punto’s Horn Concerto No. 5 in our programme. It’s proved to be quite a find and demonstrates what an exceptional virtuoso this composer must have been.
Also on our programme is one of Sergei Prokofiev’s least played works – his Overture on Hebrew Themes, another stray masterpiece that deserves to be heard more often because of its catchy melodies and colourful orchestration. But, perhaps even more of a waif and a stray is the same composer’s Symphony No. 7, which was completed in 1952, just a year before Prokofiev died.
Resonance Ensemble has previously played Prokofiev’s very popular Symphony No. 1 – the Classical Symphony and, although his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies are also frequently played and recorded, the less often heard Seventh is perhaps the composer’s most gorgeously tuneful and harmonically adventurous. Less dramatic and aggressive than some of Prokofiev’s earlier symphonies, the Seventh is a heart-felt and lyrical masterpiece that will remind listeners of his uplifting and moving Romeo and Juliet ballet music.
Resonance Ensemble's Waifs & Strays concert was on Sunday 6 April at The Piano in Christchurch
Waifs & Strays
A programme of some of the musical orphans and ragamuffins of classical music
Resonance Ensemble and conductor Tony Ryan delve into some less well-known music by Rossini and Prokofiev, as well as a hidden gem from an almost completely unknown composer.
Rossini’s comic opera Il Signor Bruschino is rarely heard these days although its sparkling overture is one of the composer’s most delightful – full of spirit and some novel special effects.
Another forgotten waif is the composer and horn player Jan Václav Stich who translated his name to Giovanni Punto when he ran away from home at the age of 20 and went to Italy. Our horn soloist for this concert, Alex Morton, suggested we include Punto’s Horn Concerto No. 5 in our programme. It’s proved to be quite a find and demonstrates what an exceptional virtuoso this composer must have been.
Also on our programme is one of Sergei Prokofiev’s least played works – his Overture on Hebrew Themes, another stray masterpiece that deserves to be heard more often because of its catchy melodies and colourful orchestration. But, perhaps even more of a waif and a stray is the same composer’s Symphony No. 7, which was completed in 1952, just a year before Prokofiev died.
Resonance Ensemble has previously played Prokofiev’s very popular Symphony No. 1 – the Classical Symphony and, although his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies are also frequently played and recorded, the less often heard Seventh is perhaps the composer’s most gorgeously tuneful and harmonically adventurous. Less dramatic and aggressive than some of Prokofiev’s earlier symphonies, the Seventh is a heart-felt and lyrical masterpiece that will remind listeners of his uplifting and moving Romeo and Juliet ballet music.
Resonance Ensemble's Waifs & Strays concert was on Sunday 6 April at The Piano in Christchurch
Recent Concerts and Events
- 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 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 Waifs & Strays
Sunday 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
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
