Piano Preludes
Anthony Ritchie

The Prelude is an ancient musical form, dating back to the Baroque period. J.S.Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues set the benchmark for keyboard composers, but there have been other inspirational examples.
I spent many teenage hours learning pieces from Chopin's 24 Preludes, Debussy's two books of preludes, and Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues. So when I set about composing a large work for piano I thought of these role models before me. I decided to write my own set of 24 preludes and make a small mark of respect to these great composers, with dedications to them in No.2 (Chopin), No.13 (Debussy), No.16 (Shostakovich) and No.17 (Bach). Anthony Ritchie


Anthony Ritchie
ANTHONY RITCHIE was born in 1960 and educated in Christchurch. He graduated Bachelor of Music with first class honours from Canterbury University in 1982, and in the same year received his first commission, resulting in the Concertino for Piano and Strings. He went on to complete a Ph.D. on the music of Bartok, and studied composition with Attila Bozay at the Liszt Academy. Recently he has turned his attention to opera, completing "Quartet" for the 2004 International Festival of the Arts, and The God Boy, for Opera Otago (2004).


Sharon Joy Vogan
SHARON JOY VOGAN was born in Surrey, England. She began learning piano at the age of five from her mother, who was a Royal Schools scholarship-winning pianist and a pupil of Cyril Smith. Sharon moved with her family to New Zealand, when she was nine years old, where she gained her first experiences as a performer in competitions.

She has made extensive recital tours in New Zealand for Chamber Music New Zealand and is currently based in Auckland, New Zealand.