Anthony Ritchie


Anthony Ritchie is New Zealand composer and academic. He is currently professor and head of performance at Otago University. His works number over a hundred, and include three symphonies, two operas, seven concertos, choral works, chamber music and solo works.
Ritchie is the son of John Ritchie, a professor teaching composition and orchestration. Anthony Ritchie completed a Ph.D. on the music of Béla Bartók in 1987, studying at the Bartók Archives in Budapest. He studied composition with :de:Attila Bozay|Attila Bozay at the Liszt Academy, and completed his Mus.B at the University of Canterbury. Upon returning to New Zealand, in succession he took on the posts of Composer-in-Schools in Christchurch, Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago and Composer-in-Residence at the Dunedin Sinfonia, where he wrote his Symphony No. 1. He has worked as a freelance composer since 1994, and has written for a wide variety of performers including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia, Michael Houstoun and Wilma Smith. As well as having composed a large variety of vocal and instrumental works he has also written music for theatre and dance. Many of his works have been performed overseas, and a growing number are being recorded and published commercially.

Works