The 65-year-old has been a University of Otago music lecturer for the past 23 years, and will also be made an emeritus professor of composition, conducting, New Zealand music, contemporary music and music theory when he retires at the end of this month.
‘‘I feel very honoured and privileged to have been made emeritus professor at Ōtakou Whakahiu Waka,’’ Prof Ritchie said.
‘‘It encourages me to maintain a strong relationship with the university into the future, and stay in touch with my colleagues and students.’’
‘‘I’m really chuffed about my string quartet CD Melencolia being a finalist for the Aotearoa Music Awards, along with the wonderful players in the Jade Quartet.
‘‘It’s lovely to have this type of recognition occasionally, as often I’m not sure what impact my recordings are having.’’
The winner will be announced on May 28.
He credited his work at the university for much of the inspiration for his compositions.
‘‘They [students] spark your own ideas.
‘‘They come at things from a different angle and you think, ‘Oh, that’s an interesting idea. I might try that myself’.’’
During his prolific career, the former Mozart Fellow (1988, 1989) has become prominent on the global stage, having composed more than 200 works, including symphonies, operas, concertos, choral works, chamber music and solo works — many of them award-winning compositions.
And there is still plenty more material ready to be written.
He is writing his seventh symphony.
Being a composer can be quite a solitary profession — long hours in a quiet room, away from other people.
He said for that reason he would miss his university colleagues and students the most when he left.
‘‘I formed a bond with most of my colleagues and collaborated a lot with them on projects.
‘‘So I’ll miss that.’’
However, he believed the music industry was changing very rapidly and it would be good to have new people coming in to steer the department in other directions.
During his tenure, he welcomed Otago’s shift from the classically focused music programmes of his student years, to a more contemporary, popular range of offerings.
This included the development of a bachelor of performing arts, which enabled students to study across the disciplines of music, theatre and dance.
He also believed ‘‘life’s too short’’ and there were other things he wanted to go out and do.
‘‘I’ll keep composing and being involved in musical activities, but retirement gives you more time away from the stress, to look after yourself, do a bit of biking or swimming or croquet or whatever it may be.’’
