Visit Tony's SOUNDCLOUD page to listen to samples of his music. Or select the cover images or links below to listen to individual works.
There are also links to two of Tony's shorter orchestral hits. For a list of more of Tony's compositions go to SOUNZ - The Centre for New Zealand Music. Photographs from the acclaimed première production of Tony's opera The Musicians of Bremen can be found at the bottom of this page.
There are also links to two of Tony's shorter orchestral hits. For a list of more of Tony's compositions go to SOUNZ - The Centre for New Zealand Music. Photographs from the acclaimed première production of Tony's opera The Musicians of Bremen can be found at the bottom of this page.
![]() Listen to the third Movement of Tony's Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra. The recording is from the concerto's first performance, played by soloist, Mark Hobson, with the Christchurch Youth Orchestra conducted by Paul Mayhew.
Watch the latest performance of one of Tony's major works. Here Thomas Allely, principal tuba of Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Australia, is the soloist in Tony's Tuba Concerto at The Piano in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 4 December 2022. >>>
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![]() The Tuba Concerto was originally written for Thomas Allely while he was still a school student in Christchurch, and which he played with the NZ Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra in Auckland. Tony Ryan describes the revision of his concerto as an almost complete re-write which recognises the exceptionally advanced virtuoso and musical abilities of this now widely-experienced soloist, and the talented players of the Resonance Ensemble orchestra who gave the first performance of the new version at The Piano in Christchurch, New Zealand on 4 December 2022.
See more from Thomas Allely Listen to to the composer Tony Ryan and soloist Thomas Allely discuss the coming first performance of the concerto on RNZ National. ![]() Tony's String Quartet was first performed at The Great Hall of the Christchurch Arts Centre in New Zealand. The 1st Violin part is played by Fiona Pears who is a well-known Gypsy Jazz player with a considerable reputation in many parts of the world. Fiona's collaborations with Roby Lakatos during covid lockdowns in 2020 have received considerable attention. 2nd Violin is Robert Lovie, who has played as principal 1st violin in several orchestras in New Zealand and abroad. Viola player, Belinda Williams played for several years with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. The recording's Cellist is Ashley Brown who was principal cello of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra before becoming the founding cellist of the acclaimed NZTrio. Subsequent performances, sometimes of individual movements, have been presented by other ensembles including the New Zealand String Quartet.
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Watch Tony conduct a performance of his Waltz Bacchanale with Resonance Ensemble.
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![]() HAKA! is a short work for orchestra that celebrates New Zealand's indigenous Maori cultural ritual called the Haka. The original style of the Haka, usually performed by Maori warriors to challenge and welcome visitors, is a fervent vocal and physical dance. It's known around the world as the challenge that opens every test match played by New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks. This orchestral Haka was written for a tour to Australia by a New Zealand Orchestra.
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HAKA! (II) was written for the 2022 Schools Festival Orchestra.
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![]() Don Quixote is an orchestral song for mezzo soprano and orchestra. However, the range is reasonably suitable for any voice range. The song is also available in a version for voice and piano.
The text is a poem by English poet Arthur Davison Ficke. In this recording the singer is Tony's wife, Ursula, and the orchestra is conducted by Mark Hodgkinson. |
Tony conducting a performance of his Linwood March with Resonance Ensemble.
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It's Christmas Here As Well is a Christmas song for New Zealand, where 25 December is in the middle of summer. An orchestral version of this song was premiered by NZ's Christchurch Symphony Orchestra with two vocal soloists in December 2019. The words "they are us" in the song's first line, was used by the NZ Prime Minister after the Christchurch Mosque attacks in March 2019.

Red Sky in the Morning is the sixth of seven songs, and also the title song of a cycle called Red Sky in the Morning for mezzo-soprano, French horn and piano. The vocal range is reasonably suitable for other voice types from baritone to soprano. The singer in this recording is Jillian Bartram. The poems are by New Zealand poet, John Summers.
There is also another performance of this song below.
There is also another performance of this song below.

Red Sky in the Morning is the sixth of seven songs and also the title song of a cycle called Red Sky in the Morning for mezzo-soprano, French horn and piano. The vocal range is reasonably suitable for other voice types from baritone to soprano. The poems are by New Zealand poet, John Summers. This performance features Tony's wife Ursula. There is also another performance of this same song above.

These tracks were created for a live production of Tony's musical Alice! which was performed at the Court Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand for its summer season (late November to early February) a few years ago. Some tracks are incidental instrumentals; a couple are designed as accompaniments for sung performances by the actors. The script for this musical was written by Margaret Mahy, based on Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland.
The Musicians of Bremen
The gallery below features pictures from Tony’s opera The Musicians of Bremen which was first performed for a season of eight performances at The Great Hall of The Christchurch Arts Centre. It was conducted by the composer and directed by Rozena Hallum and Lindsay Clark. The singers were Jillian Bartram and Valerie Wycoff (sopranos), Ursula Ryan (mezzo soprano), Peter Hewson (tenor) and Howard Harvey (bass), with an ensemble of thirteen instrumentalists.