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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 NewsBookings are now open for Resonance Ensemble's next concert - Shall We Dance - on 26 November - a programme of favourite classics that we don't hear often enough in live concerts. Featuring charasmatic violin soloist Rakuto Kurano.
On 29 November, Tony delivered a very well-received presentation on opera titled Planet Opera - A Parallel Universe to the Rutherford branch of Christchurch's U3A network. On 17 September Resonance Ensemble presented Confluence, a programme of 20th century Russian and American works music, including Shostakovich's extraordinary Symphony No. 9 and as selection of Aaron Copland's Old American Songs with soprano soloist Helen Charlton. On 25 June Resonance Ensemble presented Danzón, a programme of exotic and colourful music, full of captivating rhythms and ear-catching melodies, including Darius Milhaud's Scaramouche with saxophone soloist Mark Walton. In 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?" On 26 March 2023 Resonance Ensemble gave a concert at The Piano with 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. |
Don't miss Resonance Ensemble's next concert on 26 November
Resonance Ensemble presents:
Shall we Dance?
After Resonance Ensemble’s previous two very enthusiastically received programmes of twentieth century masterpieces, we’re lightening the tone for our final concert of 2023 with toe-tapping rhythms and exhilarating orchestral textures. From Saint-Saëns to Tchaikovsky, Brahms to Elgar, and Franz von Suppé to Richard Rodgers, this programme is full of rousing gems to inspire every taste.
Suppé’s Poet and Peasant Overture opens this concert with an invitation to an elegant Viennese waltz before reaching its racy and spectacular final galop. Then, Richard Rodgers’ knack of producing some of Broadway’s most memorable and timeless classics is demonstrated by a short selection of hits from The King and I, including the song that gives our programme its title – Shall We Dance?
The gentle lilt of Edward Elgar’s two intimate orchestral chansons – Chanson de Nuit and Chanson de Matin – provides a surprising foil for his brilliant and lively Bavarian Dances before we move to the intoxicating gypsy rhythms of three Brahms Hungarian Dances.
Rattling bones from the orchestra and fiendish fiddling from our brilliant guest soloist Rakuto Kurano bring the graveyard to ghostly life in Saint-Saëns’ turbulent Danse Macabre before our concert ends with the sunny and colourful folksongs and dances of Southern Italy in Tchaikovsky’s vividly picturesque Capriccio Italien.
So – colour, spectacle and irresistible dance rhythms are vibrantly on display in Shall We Dance? Not to be missed.
BOOK NOW
Shall we Dance?
After Resonance Ensemble’s previous two very enthusiastically received programmes of twentieth century masterpieces, we’re lightening the tone for our final concert of 2023 with toe-tapping rhythms and exhilarating orchestral textures. From Saint-Saëns to Tchaikovsky, Brahms to Elgar, and Franz von Suppé to Richard Rodgers, this programme is full of rousing gems to inspire every taste.
Suppé’s Poet and Peasant Overture opens this concert with an invitation to an elegant Viennese waltz before reaching its racy and spectacular final galop. Then, Richard Rodgers’ knack of producing some of Broadway’s most memorable and timeless classics is demonstrated by a short selection of hits from The King and I, including the song that gives our programme its title – Shall We Dance?
The gentle lilt of Edward Elgar’s two intimate orchestral chansons – Chanson de Nuit and Chanson de Matin – provides a surprising foil for his brilliant and lively Bavarian Dances before we move to the intoxicating gypsy rhythms of three Brahms Hungarian Dances.
Rattling bones from the orchestra and fiendish fiddling from our brilliant guest soloist Rakuto Kurano bring the graveyard to ghostly life in Saint-Saëns’ turbulent Danse Macabre before our concert ends with the sunny and colourful folksongs and dances of Southern Italy in Tchaikovsky’s vividly picturesque Capriccio Italien.
So – colour, spectacle and irresistible dance rhythms are vibrantly on display in Shall We Dance? Not to be missed.
BOOK NOW
- 4 November: CSM Sinfonia presented a Flashmob event at Northlands shopping mall (Photos below)
- 31 Octover - 3 November 2023: The Chch Schools Festival Symphony Orchestra at the Christchurch Town Hall
- 17 September 2023: Resonance Ensemble presented Confluence - Music by Shostakovich, Copland, Barber and Rachmaninov
- 31 August 2023: CSM Sinfonia performed at the Aurora Festival - Music by Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Stavinsky and Márquez.
- 19 August 2023: CSM Sinfonia orchestra played music by Prokofiev and Stravinsky
- 25 June 2023: Resonance gave a concert called Danzón. Music by Khachaturian, Britten, Ginastera, Milhaud, Benjamin & Márquez.
- 17 June 2023: CSM Sinfonia orchestra performed music by Khachaturian, Gershwin and Márquez.
- 26 March 2023: Resonance Ensemble presented Outliers. Music by Rossini, Gounod, Ponchielli and Beethoven
- 4 December 2022: Resonance Ensemble's concert was called A Tuba Comes to Town (music by Nicolai, Grieg, Sibelius and Ryan)
- 10 Dec: Tony's Sinfonia orchestra ended a busy year with his own Linwood March along with music by Tchaikovsky & Bizet
- 19 November: CSM Sinfonia Orchestra played music by Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns
- 1 - 4 November: The Chch Schools Festival Symphony Orchestra at the Christchurch Town Hall (Photos below)
- 25 Sept: Resonance Ensemble gave a programme called 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: Resonance Ensemble - Myths and Legends (music by Dvořák and Prokofiev) at The Piano
- In April: CSM Sinfonia at the Christchurch Town Hall playing 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 - 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 this Sunday's 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
