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About Us
Resonance Ensemble was formed in February 2012 by players and is now 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.
The orchestra, conducted by Tony Ryan, rehearses weekly, presenting four concerts per year, and works primarily with Christchurch-based soloists. Previous conductors have included Helen Renaud, Anthony Ferner and Mark Hodgkinson.
Our 2026 concerts are on Sundays at 3pm: 28 June, 13 September and 29 November, so diary the dates now. We look forward to presenting wonderful and innovative programmes for our growing and appreciative audience.
Thanks for your support.
Mānawatia a Matariki – Music by New Zealand Composers
The Piano, 3pm, Sunday 28 June
Conducted by Tony Ryan, Henry Nicholson, Susan Dollin
Resonance will welcome the Māori New Year and present its third annual concert of music by New Zealand composers. Music by our conductor-composer Tony Ryan features on the programme, along with orchestral works by Anthony Ritchie, Pieta Hextall, John Psathas, Daniel Harris and William Philipson.
John Psathas is one of New Zealand’s most well-known and long-established composers. His Tarantismo was premièred in 2010 and takes its inspiration from the Tarantella – an Italian dance of increasing frenzy, allegedly developed from the idea that victims of the bite of the giant tarantula spider would dance around wildly in order to expel the spider’s venom.
In January, at this year’s Waitaki Summer Music Camp, our principal flute Susan Dollin conducted Anthony Ritchie’s new work for wind ensemble entitled Giving Thanks, which Susan will conduct again in our concert. This sunny work, written while the composer was undergoing chemotherapy, expresses gratitude for the support he received during that challenging time.
Henry Nicholson will conduct two of the works on the programme. Pieta Hextall’s To the Edge of the Universe explores the time-space continuum; the idea that beyond the edge of the known universe there is still infinity, while House of the Faun by William Philipson takes us through one of Pompeii’s grandest mansions, the ruins of which can still be seen at the site which was famously destroyed in the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This eerily atmospheric piece shows another side of the composer who has also written music for more than three hundred episodes of TV’s Shortland Street.
The Food of Love by Tony Ryan takes its title from the opening line of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and brings together songs and music which the composer wrote for Christchurch’s Court Theatre productions of Shakespeare plays in the 1990s. The piece includes five guest vocal soloists – Alannah Hounsome-Vail, Erin Connelly-Whyte, Thomas Woodfield, David Moseley and Kahu Gray.
As with so much politically-motivated music of the past, from Mozart to Shostakovich and beyond, Daniel Harris’s colourful and diverse Contamination of the Fae embodies his response to present day political manipulation, corruption and fraud. The composer uses the orchestra to express communal breakdown resulting from malevolent influences.
These new and recent works by six contemporary New Zealand composers express a diverse range of reactions to the times we live in and, as all art should do, will entertain, inspire, and provoke.
Tony Ryan is well-known to Christchurch audiences as a conductor, composer, educator, and reviewer. As a conductor he learnt his craft as repetiteur, chorus master and conductor for many organisations including Canterbury Opera where he was assistant to international guest conductors including Vanco Cavdarski, John Matheson, Martin Turnovsky and many others. Since then he has worked extensively as a conductor and composer for Court Theatre, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the Christchurch Youth Orchestra and others.
In addition to Resonance Ensemble, Tony is the conductor of the Christchurch School of Music Sinfonia and the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival Orchestra.
Conductor: Tony Ryan
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, and orchestras from the Christchurch School of Music.
His Saxophone Concerto, with stellar saxophonist Alice Morgan, along with a brief Fanfare written in honour of New Zealand composer, John Ritchie, were featured in Resonance's Matariki concert in June 2025. As a teacher Tony led the performing arts at Linwood College for more than thirty years followed by several years working in Kenya and Singapore. Tony also writes on matters of musical interest – check out his website.
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 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.