Temporary Conductor For Civic Orchestra

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31322, 18 March 1967, Page 17

Temporary Conductor For Civic Orchestra

The Christchurch Civic Orchestra Foundation has appointed a temporary conductor for the John Ritchie String Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra. He is Mr R. Just, lecturer in music at Christchurch Teachers’ College. The board of management has received the resignation, from April 6, of Professor J. A. Ritchie. He will continue to be associated with the foundation as musical director and adviser.

The John Ritchie String Orchestra, which came into being late in 1958 as a private venture under Professor Ritchie, was the nucleus of what, four years later, became the Christchurch Civic Orchestra. Four of the original members remain.

The board said it was likely that, on occasion, Professor Ritchie would conduct the orchestra. But, in view of the spectacular expansion of orchestral activity, the need for a full-time conductor had become obvious. Mr Just was educated in Germany and Is a graduate of the Thuringian State Conservatoire for Music, and a holder of the German state diploma for music. He is an experienced conductor and a versatile musician.

He was introduced to New Zealand listeners by broadcasts of his Huntly Boys’ Choir. He is a conductor and supervisor with the Christ-

church School of Instrumental Music, and was musical director of the Children’s Theatre production of “The Wizard of Oz” and other productions. The Rolf Just Recorder Consort is well known to Christchurch audiences.