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Welcome to Planet MusicTony Ryan is a conductor, composer, educator and reviewer
based in Christchurch, New Zealand |
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Interview recorded on 30 December 2022
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Tony's Latest NewsIn his latest blog post (Troubleshooter) Tony asks "if Stuff’s review of NZ Opera’s The Unruly Tourists is deliberately offensive, or is it just sloppy journalism? Can we no longer expect genuinely informed, considered, and knowledgeable evaluation of the performing arts from some of our mainstream media?"
Tony Conducted Resonance Ensemble on 26 March 2023 at The Piano in a programme titled Outliers. And 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. 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. |
Danzón
Tony conducts a programme of Exotic and colourful music, full of captivating rhythms and ear-catching melodies which is the essence of Resonance Ensemble’s second concert for 2023 at The Piano on 25 June. Christchurch’s innovative orchestra Resonance Ensemble has put together one of its most enticing programmes ever, with some of the twentieth century’s most vivid and flamboyant orchestral pieces.
Danzón features works from Armenia, England, France, Argentina and Mexico in a programme that totally annihilates any idea that twentieth century music is unappealing, hard to listen to, or obscure.
Two contrasting works from 1941 and from opposite sides of the world begin and end the programme. Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite contains some of the Armenian composer’s most popular and attractive music, from the well-known Waltz to its racy Galop; while Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s four dances from his ballet Estancia will come as a total and very pleasant surprise to anyone not familiar with their colourful Latin American rhythms and vibrant orchestral colours.
From Western Europe, the twenty-year-old Benjamin Britten’s brilliantly inventive Simple Symphony is matched by Frenchman, Darius Milhaud’s very quirky three-movement Scaramouche for saxophone and orchestra. Resonance Ensemble’s performance of Scaramouche will feature saxophone soloist Mark Walton*, originally from Christchurch, who is coming over from Sydney specially to play this immensely entertaining piece. This music also continues our South American theme, full of the evocative Brazilian rhythms that influenced Milhaud during the two years he lived there.
To complete this picturesque programme Resonance Ensemble will play Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s Danzon No. 2 which is fast becoming one of the most popular orchestral works of the last thirty years.
*Saxophone soloist Mark Walton moved to Sydney in 1985 after studying clarinet in New York and London. He was Chair of Woodwind at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for several years before being appointed Chair of Performance, Outreach and Communications there; posts he held for nearly 20 years until 2006. By 2009, Walton was doing double duty between being the Musical Director of the Christchurch School of Music in New Zealand, and continuing to run events and workshops for woodwind musicians across Australia and, in January 2012, he taught at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music Winter Academy in Kabul.
Tony conducts a programme of Exotic and colourful music, full of captivating rhythms and ear-catching melodies which is the essence of Resonance Ensemble’s second concert for 2023 at The Piano on 25 June. Christchurch’s innovative orchestra Resonance Ensemble has put together one of its most enticing programmes ever, with some of the twentieth century’s most vivid and flamboyant orchestral pieces.
Danzón features works from Armenia, England, France, Argentina and Mexico in a programme that totally annihilates any idea that twentieth century music is unappealing, hard to listen to, or obscure.
Two contrasting works from 1941 and from opposite sides of the world begin and end the programme. Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite contains some of the Armenian composer’s most popular and attractive music, from the well-known Waltz to its racy Galop; while Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s four dances from his ballet Estancia will come as a total and very pleasant surprise to anyone not familiar with their colourful Latin American rhythms and vibrant orchestral colours.
From Western Europe, the twenty-year-old Benjamin Britten’s brilliantly inventive Simple Symphony is matched by Frenchman, Darius Milhaud’s very quirky three-movement Scaramouche for saxophone and orchestra. Resonance Ensemble’s performance of Scaramouche will feature saxophone soloist Mark Walton*, originally from Christchurch, who is coming over from Sydney specially to play this immensely entertaining piece. This music also continues our South American theme, full of the evocative Brazilian rhythms that influenced Milhaud during the two years he lived there.
To complete this picturesque programme Resonance Ensemble will play Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s Danzon No. 2 which is fast becoming one of the most popular orchestral works of the last thirty years.
*Saxophone soloist Mark Walton moved to Sydney in 1985 after studying clarinet in New York and London. He was Chair of Woodwind at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for several years before being appointed Chair of Performance, Outreach and Communications there; posts he held for nearly 20 years until 2006. By 2009, Walton was doing double duty between being the Musical Director of the Christchurch School of Music in New Zealand, and continuing to run events and workshops for woodwind musicians across Australia and, in January 2012, he taught at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music Winter Academy in Kabul.
- 26 March 2023: Tony conducted Resonance Ensemble in Outliers. Music by Rossini, Gounod, Ponchielli and Beethoven
- 4 December 2022: 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
