|
Welcome to Planet MusicTony Ryan is a conductor, composer, educator and reviewer
based in Christchurch, New Zealand |
|
Interview recorded on 30 December 2022
|
Tony's Latest NewsTony Conducts Resonance Ensemble on 26 March 2023 at The Piano in a programme titled Outliers. See more information on the Resonance Ensemble website. And Bookings are now open.
Resonance Ensemble's final 2022 concert A Tuba Comes to Town on 4 December included Tony's Tuba Concerto; and what an exciting and spectacular performance it received from both the orchesta and tuba soloist Thomas Allely. Watch the performance on Tony's YouTube channel. And listen to the composer Tony Ryan and soloist Thomas Allely discuss the coming first performance of the concerto on RNZ National. Two weeks before the Resonance Ensemble concert, Tony conducted the CSM Sinfonia in a concert featuring music by Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns, then, on 10 December he conducted The Christchurch School of Music's Intermediate Symphony Orchestra in a programme of works by John Emeleus, Ippolitov-Ivanov, Tchaikovsky and John Wiliams, followed by the CSM Sinfonia in music by Bizet and Tchaikovsky as well as his own Linwood March. My 2022 Recording of the Year is the latest topic on Tony's blog in Troubleshooter. A recorded performance that, although it has received no awards, is his pick of everything he's listened to in the last twelve months. Tony's Sinfonia orchestra from the Christchurch School of Music performed a Flashmob event at two large shopping malls in early September, see the video on YouTube. In April they performed music by Elgar, Mussorgsky and his own Linwood March at a performance in the Christchurch Town Hall. The concert was video recorded and can be found on YouTube. The Sinfonia segment starts at the 56.30 time point. |
Bookings are now open for Tony's next concert with Resonance Ensemble - BOOK NOW
Outliers
Sunday, 26 March, 3pm at The Piano. Outliers features four works which, although familiar to many, are considered to be almost outside the standard repertoire.
The final galop from Rossini’s William Tell Overture may be one of the most well-known and exciting pieces of music ever written, but the rest of the overture, not to mention the whole magnificent five-hour-long opera which follows, is rarely heard. But the overture’s astonishingly innovative and original character make that final galop all the more charismatic and electrifying. The five cellos of Resonance Ensemble bring a fresh perspective to its extraordinary opening episode followed by one of Rossini’s most frighteningly realistic storm sequences. The orchestra’s superb flute and cor anglais players then indulge us with a Swiss yodelling song, before that final triumphant galop.
Gounod’s Ballet Music from Faust was not originally part of his most famous opera’s first performances. Come along to the concert to hear the rather extraordinary inside story of how this exceptionally varied and appealing music came to be written.
A third orchestral extract from opera comes in the form of the Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli’s only well-known opera La Gioconda. But even this colourful and dramatic opera is rarely heard apart from this famous dance that ends Act 3. Many in the audience will recognise sections of the Dance of the Hours that have appeared in popular songs, advertising jingles and a certain classic Disney movie.
But perhaps the work which is most deserving of the label ‘outlier’ is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8. Coming immediately after the mighty Seventh Symphony and several years before the great choral Ninth with its iconic Ode to Joy, it’s easy to forget that No. 8 is Beethoven’s most innovative and experimental symphony and certainly one of his greatest. Written in 1812 and full of stunning and original music, Symphony No. 8 is the shortest of Beethoven’s mature symphonies. Although hardly an unknown work, this symphony will come as a revelation to many in the audience.
Tony will bring all of these works to life with Resonance Ensemble’s usual flair and dynamism in the stunning acoustic of Christchurch’s wonderful concert venue, The Piano, at 3.00pm on Sunday 26 March. Come along for some enthralling musical discoveries on a path less travelled.
Outliers
Sunday, 26 March, 3pm at The Piano. Outliers features four works which, although familiar to many, are considered to be almost outside the standard repertoire.
The final galop from Rossini’s William Tell Overture may be one of the most well-known and exciting pieces of music ever written, but the rest of the overture, not to mention the whole magnificent five-hour-long opera which follows, is rarely heard. But the overture’s astonishingly innovative and original character make that final galop all the more charismatic and electrifying. The five cellos of Resonance Ensemble bring a fresh perspective to its extraordinary opening episode followed by one of Rossini’s most frighteningly realistic storm sequences. The orchestra’s superb flute and cor anglais players then indulge us with a Swiss yodelling song, before that final triumphant galop.
Gounod’s Ballet Music from Faust was not originally part of his most famous opera’s first performances. Come along to the concert to hear the rather extraordinary inside story of how this exceptionally varied and appealing music came to be written.
A third orchestral extract from opera comes in the form of the Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli’s only well-known opera La Gioconda. But even this colourful and dramatic opera is rarely heard apart from this famous dance that ends Act 3. Many in the audience will recognise sections of the Dance of the Hours that have appeared in popular songs, advertising jingles and a certain classic Disney movie.
But perhaps the work which is most deserving of the label ‘outlier’ is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8. Coming immediately after the mighty Seventh Symphony and several years before the great choral Ninth with its iconic Ode to Joy, it’s easy to forget that No. 8 is Beethoven’s most innovative and experimental symphony and certainly one of his greatest. Written in 1812 and full of stunning and original music, Symphony No. 8 is the shortest of Beethoven’s mature symphonies. Although hardly an unknown work, this symphony will come as a revelation to many in the audience.
Tony will bring all of these works to life with Resonance Ensemble’s usual flair and dynamism in the stunning acoustic of Christchurch’s wonderful concert venue, The Piano, at 3.00pm on Sunday 26 March. Come along for some enthralling musical discoveries on a path less travelled.
- 4 December: Tony conducted Resonance Ensemble in A Tuba Comes to Town (music by Nicolai, Grieg, Sibelius and Ryan)
- 10 Dec: Tony's Sinfonia orchestra ended a busy year with a performance of his Linwood March along with music by Tchaikovsky & Bizet
- 19 November: Tony conducted his CSM Sinfonia Orchestra in music by Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns
- 1 - 4 November: Tony conducted the Chch Schools Festival Symphony Orchestra at the Christchurch Town Hall (Photos below)
- 25 Sept: Tony conducted Resonance Ensemble in Homelands (music by Britten, Rossini, Grieg and Smetana) at The Piano
- 3 Sept: The CSM Sinfonia presented a Flashmob event at two large Christchurch shopping malls on 3 September
- 26 June: Tony conducted Resonance Ensemble in Myths and Legends (music by Dvořák and Prokofiev) at The Piano
- In April Tony conducted CSM Sinfonia at the Christchurch Town Hall in his Linwood March and Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance March
- On 4 March 2022 Tony presented his ideas on Politics in Music to the U3A Arts Centre group
- Tony's latest reviews can be found on Theatreview, The Press (Stuff) and on the Christopher's Classics website
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
