About
BAROQUE
About
BAROQUE MUSIC
About
BAROQUE
From
MEDIA
From
MEDIA
2025/2026
ARTISTS
ANTHONY RITCHIE is one of New Zealand’s leading composers, with over 200 works spanning symphonies, operas, chamber music, film, and choral music. A graduate of Canterbury University with a Ph.D. on Bartók, he also studied at the Liszt Academy in Hungary before serving as Mozart Fellow in composition at Otago University and Composer-in-Residence with the Dunedin Sinfonia, where he completed his Symphony No. 1 Boum. His works have been commissioned and performed by major ensembles including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Ulster Orchestra. Notable large-scale works include his Symphony No. 2, premiered at the International Festival of the Arts, the opera The God Boy, and the oratorio Gallipoli to the Somme, acclaimed in New Zealand and later performed in London. He has also written specifically for the Baroque Music Community and Educational Trust of New Zealand, a harpsichord concerto Four Seasons in One Day for the upcoming 10-city South Island tour 2026. His recordings have received multiple awards, including Best Classical Album at the 2016 NZ Music Awards (Fjarren: In the Distance) and Classical Album of the Year from The Listener (A Bugle Will Do). Currently Associate Professor of Music at Otago University, Ritchie continues to be recognized nationally and internationally as one of the country’s most prolific and accomplished composers.
JULIE BRANA studied flute at the Conservatory in Pilsen and earned her master’s degree with distinction in 2001 from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg under Peter Holtslag. She later completed her concert certificate, also with distinction, and continued her studies in Baroque and Classical flute with Marten Root at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen (2001–2003). She has participated in masterclasses led by renowned figures such as Marion Verbruggen, Barthold Kuijken, Karel van Steenhoven, and Wilbert Hazelzet. Since 2003, she has taught recorder at the Conservatory in Pilsen and, since 2006, at the Prague Conservatory, where she has served as head teacher of traverso since 2017. Julie regularly performs and records as a soloist and ensemble member with leading early music groups in the Czech Republic, including Collegium 1704 under Václav Luks, and is also a frequent guest with ensembles such as Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, Ensemble Inégal, and Barocco sempre giovane. Since 2016, she has been principal flutist and soloist with the prestigious German orchestra Concerto Köln and collaborates with international ensembles such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Dresdner Barockorchester. She also performs with harpsichordist Edita Keglerová and the recorder trio Tre Fontane.
Violinist RAKUTO KURANO has been reviewed as a musician with “flair and panache” by the Christchurch Mail, Rakuto Kurano has established himself as a versatile Japanese/New Zealand Performer-Composer. As a multi award-winning performer and composer, he has appeared in many concert halls across the country. Overseas appearances include performances in Japan and Vietnam. As an active performer on the violin, viola, and piano, he currently averages 60 performances each year. Repertoire ranges from anything written in the Renaissance period (14th century) to music by young living composers.
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SARA KADES is a Lyttelton-based violinist, violist and composer who actively performs in various chamber, early and contemporary music ensembles throughout New Zealand. Her musical studies began at the age of 3 in Hungary, and since then, she has continued to pursue music through her school years in New Zealand. She was awarded her Associate of Trinity College London Diploma in 2021 in Music Performance, Violin. After having taken an interest in early music in high school, she attended workshops in Europe last year, focusing on authentic interpretation and historically informed performance practice. An aspiring composer and member of AN ensemble, Sára enjoys performing as well as creating new works, and exploring a wide range of avant-garde/art music. Currently a student at the University of Canterbury School of Music, Sára is studying violin performance under the guidance of Professor Mark Menzies.
TOMAS HURNIK has a rich musical career performing with Czech symphonies, recording for radio and television, winning various chamber music competitions and taking part in prestigious chamber groups such as Talich Chamber Orchestra. He has played with various period instrument groups such as Musica Florea, Capella Regia Prague and Solamente Naturali with which he performed and toured around Europe.
He continues to be passionate about period instrument playing and organizes and performs in concerts, workshops and master classes of Baroque music in New Zealand.
EDITA KEGLEROVÁ graduated at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Prof. G. Lukšaité Mrázkova. She studied with J. Ogg at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and then at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2007, she defended her doctoral thesis on Interpretation and Theory of Interpretation at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. She is a laureate of several international music competitions. As a soloist or member of chamber ensembles, she has performed in many important concert halls not only in Europe but also overseas (Japan, New Zealand, Africa, USA). She cooperates with many ensembles, including the Prague Baroque Ensemble, Hipocondria, and Barocco Sempre Giovanne.
She is teaching at Jan Neruda Music Grammar School in Prague. In 2011, she became a professor at the Prague Music Conservatory. She has repeatedly led master classes at the Summer School of Early Music in Prachatice.
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SZABOLCS ILLÉS studied at Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. He studied baroque violin and early music presentation led by Dario Luisi and Susanne Scholz in Vienna and Graz. On courses he studied with famous baroque violinists as Enrico Gatti, Marinett Troost, Lucy van Dael or Simon Standage. At Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig studied with Susanne Scholz. In 2009 he gained the Master in Music degree at Royal Conservatory of Brussels in Sigiswald Kuijken’s class. He has been performing as a member of world-famous orchestra, the La Petite Bande. . Since 2008, he has been a concertmaster of the Hof-Musici orchestra which is primarily working on the reconstruction and presentation of baroque operas with authentic instruments, costumes and original settings. He gives concerts with his own ensemble the Accademia Capricciosa and other baroque ensembles (Dolce Risonanza, Cammermusik Potsdam, Concert Royal Köln) in Germany, Austria, Belgium the Czech Republic and other European countries.
HENRY NICHOLSON, an ÅŒtautahi Christchurch-based based violinist, conductor and artistic director. He completed a Master of Music majoring in performance violin and conducting with Professor Mark Menzies and Associate Professor Justin DeHart at the University of Canterbury in 2023, having graduated from Burnside High School in 2017. As part of his research, Henry studied both modern and historical performance practice, as well as researching and analysing instrumental music of the early Baroque period. He studied conducting with Dr Helen Renaud and Professor Mark Menzies, and has been an active participant in the CSO Conducting Masterclass with CSO Chief Conductor Benjamin Northey.
MARK MENZIES Described in the Los Angeles Times as an ‘extraordinary musician’ and a ‘riveting violinist’, Mark Menzies’ career as a viola and violin virtuoso, chamber musician and pianist, conductor and advocate of contemporary music, has seen performances in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and across the United States.
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