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We are currently looking for some new players – particularly upper strings. If you’d like to join the orchestra, please contact us to check availability of places – we’d love to hear from you.​
We are compiling a database of people interested in our future concerts, so please contact us if you'd like to have your name added.
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About Us
Resonance Ensemble was formed in February 2012 by players and, 10 years on, is firmly established as an integral part of the musical landscape of Christchurch and beyond. Recognised as a high-quality, innovative and flexible orchestral ensemble, Resonance provides opportunities for musicians and audiences to experience both popular and novel repertoire beyond the more standard fare offered by Christchurch’s only fully professional orchestra. Programmes range from music for chamber orchestra, works for larger ensemble, and New Zealand compositions, including new commissions.
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The orchestra, conducted by Tony Ryan, rehearses weekly, presenting three or four concerts per year, and works primarily with Christchurch-based conductors and soloists. Previous conductors have included Helen Renaud, Anthony Ferner and Mark Hodgkinson.
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Concert dates for 2023 are 3pm Sunday, on 26 March, 25 June, 17 September and 26 November, so diary them now. We look forward to presenting wonderful and innovative programmes for our growing and appreciative audience.
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Thanks for your support.
Our next concert is on Sunday, 26 November, 3pm @ The Piano - diary the date now!
Here's a few photos from our last concert: Confluence, Sunday 17 September
Conductor: Tony Ryan
Tony Ryan is well-known to Christchurch audiences as a conductor, composer, educator and reviewer. He has been engaged as a conductor and composer for many organisations including Canterbury Opera, Court Theatre, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Christchurch Youth Orchestra. As a teacher he led the performing arts at Linwood College for more than thirty years before spending several years working in Kenya and Singapore.
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In addition to Resonance Ensemble, Tony is the conductor of the Christchurch School of Music Sinfonia and the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival Orchestra. His compositions have frequently been performed and broadcast in New Zealand and abroad, most recently by Resonance Ensemble, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the Canterbury Philharmonia, orchestras from the Christchurch School of Music and, in November 2022, his HAKA! (II) was premiered by the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival Orchestra for whom it was written.
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Tony also writes on matters of musical interest – check out his website here.
Soprano soloist: Helen Charlton
Helen Charlton is an experienced Christchurch-based singer, performing regularly as a soloist and choral director. Born and raised in Christchurch, she attended Linwood High School for her senior years, and graduated from Canterbury University with a music degree majoring in Performance Singing, and Massey University with a Graduate Diploma in Secondary School Teaching.
Helen has extensive performing experience, and her time is divided between teaching voice, conducting school choirs, and directing The Canterbury Westland Branch Law Choir. She has a passion for education through singing and is Chair of the Canterbury/West Coast Committee of the New Zealand Choral Federation as well as on the National Committee for the Association of Choral Directors. Helen is singing in Dido and Aeneas with the CSO in October and as Soprano soloist in The Messiah with Christchurch City Choir in December, but performing with Resonance Orchestra and her former music teacher has a special place in her heart.
Leader: Cornelia Didenco
Cornelia was born in Moldova, one of the ex-Soviet Union republics and is a graduate of the Moldavian State Conservatorium. She has more than 30 years’ experience teaching and for most of that time has also played in symphony orchestras in both Moldova and New Zealand. During her time in the Moldavian Symphony Orchestra she performed at the Sala Verdi in La Scala, and at other prestigious venues in Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Romania.
After emigrating to New Zealand, she joined the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and has also appeared as a soloist and in chamber groups, and as the leader of the Resonance Ensemble. Since joining the CSO she has toured with them to Japan and has performed with celebrities such as Diana Krall, Cliff Richard, George Benson, Serj Tankian, and Andrea Bocelli.