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Welcome to Planet MusicTony Ryan is a conductor, composer, educator and reviewer
based in Christchurch, New Zealand |
Latest News
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On 13 September Resonance Ensemble conducted by Tony Ryan with guest violin soloist Manu Berfkeljon will once again surprise you with sparkling orchestral gems, some of which are not heard often enough.
But this concert opens with something very well-known – French composer Emmanuel Chabrier’s sunny, spectacular and colourful evocation of Spain – the brilliant and popular España Rhapsody. Chabrier wrote it after a holiday in Spain in 1883, and it was so enthusiastically received at its first performance that it had to be encored. And although Chabrier wrote a considerable amount of other successful music – operas, piano music, and other orchestral works – España made him famous overnight. From the Old World (Europe) our programme then jumps the Atlantic to the New World (America). Although Samuel Barber began writing his opulent and expressive Violin Concerto in Switzerland in 1939, the onset of the war forced him to return home to Philadelphia where he finished it the same year. Since its première in 1941 Barber’s Violin Concerto has become one of the most frequently performed 20th-century concertos. Our soloist for this concert is Manu Berkeljon, recently returned to New Zealand from a career in Sweden where she also played this same concerto. Finally, back to the Old World, and our programme concludes with music by another French composer. César Franck’s Symphony in D minor is less often heard than it deserves. Unlike most symphonies, it has just three movements, the second of which boasts an affecting and eloquent cor anglais solo, pre-empting the famous solo in the Largo of Dvořák’s New World Symphony by five years. Written in 1888, Franck’s symphony is one of a small handful of masterworks by a composer whose principal occupation was as one of the world’s leading organists. Resonance Ensemble's conductor Tony Ryan first heard Franck’s Symphony as an eighteen-year-old at the first orchestra concert he ever attended. On that occasion the NZBC Symphony Orchestra (now the NZSO) was conducted by Andre Kostelanetz in Canterbury Court, and it has remained one of Tony’s most fondly remembered musical experiences. As we anticipate Spring in New Zealand, Resonance Ensemble brings you another innovative bouquet of musical blooms that will surely bring a breath of fresh air to raise your spirits. |
Look out for Resonance Ensemble's next concert Old World, New World at The Piano in Christchurch on 13 September. BOOK NOW.
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Resonance Ensemble presented Mānawatia a Matariki – Music by New Zealand Composers on 28 June featuring music by Anthony Ritchie, John Psathas, Pieta Hextall, Daniel Harris, William Philipson, and Tony Ryan's The Food of Love
CSM Sinfonia's concert on 2 May included music by Offenbach, Dvořák and Delibes
Resonance Ensemble's first concert of 2026 on 26 March at The Piano in Christchurch was Suite Temptaions featuring music inspired by Humperdinck, Sibelius, Debussy & Fauré.
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.
CSM Sinfonia's concert on 2 May included music by Offenbach, Dvořák and Delibes
Resonance Ensemble's first concert of 2026 on 26 March at The Piano in Christchurch was Suite Temptaions featuring music inspired by Humperdinck, Sibelius, Debussy & Fauré.
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 rehearsesTony's The Food of Love in the warm-up
before their Mānawatia a Matarik concert on 28 June
before their Mānawatia a Matarik concert on 28 June
Below: A dramatic moment from the dress rehearsal of Resonance Ensemble's March concert featuring music by Humperdinck, Sibelius, Debussy & Fauré
On 29 March Resonance Ensemble conducted by Tony Ryan presented a concert of orchestral suites by Humperdinck, Debussy, Fauré and Sibelius.
Humperdinck – Overture to Hänsel und Gretel
Fauré – Music from Masques et Bergamasques and Dolly Suite
Debussy – Petite Suite
Sibelius – King Christian II Suite
Humperdinck – Overture to Hänsel und Gretel
Fauré – Music from Masques et Bergamasques and Dolly Suite
Debussy – Petite Suite
Sibelius – King Christian II Suite
Resonance Ensemble - final rehearsals for Sweet Sorrow
Music inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
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Interview recorded on 29 December 2022
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Recent Concerts and Events
- 29 March 2026: Resonance Ensemble presented Suite Temptations. Music by Humperdinck, Sibelius, Debussy & Fauré.
- 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
