The official website of educator Jack C Richards
Professor Richards was the guest of honor at celebrations in October 2019 at City University in Hong Kong to mark the 30th anniversary of the Department of English. Professor Richards was the first head of the department.
During his visit Professor Richards gave a public lecture and also sponsored a piano recital by Australian pianist Tony Lee and New Zealand pianist Lixin Zhang.
Dr, Richards provides support for young New Zealand pianists to study at musical academies in Spain and Switzerland:
Valencia, Spain: July 2019 – Lixin Zhang & Tony Yan Tong Chen
Blonay, Switzerland: August 2019 – Lixin Zhang, Delvan Lin, Tony Yan Tong Chen, Lorelle McNaughton and Ashani Waidyatillake
Pianist Lixin Zhang from Christchurch New Zealand has launched his new CD – Play – with the support of Professor Richards.
It’s been recently announced that Play has recently taken the number one spot on the RNZ Classical Chart. Congratulations Lixin!
Jack Richards has sponsored a debut CD – Digressions – by pianist Tony Chen Lin (New Zealand/Germany). The CD contains Tony’s performance of Bartók’s Piano Sonata, Bach’s French Suite No.5, Schumann’s Humoreske and Tony’s own composition Digression (Meditation on R.S.). The CD is produced by the New Zealand music label Rattle.
The CD was launched at a reception at Jack’s Wellington apartment on April 7 2018.
In April 2018 Jack Richards sponsored a series of concerts in New Zealand by Singapore violinist Jun Hong Loh (winner of the 2015 Gisborne International Music Competition) and pianist Tony Chen Lin. Their program consisted of music by Mozart, Gao Ping, and Grieg.
Jack Richards is now offering travel support to all competitors who reach the finals in the New Zealand Chamber Music Competition, an annual competition for school chamber music groups that attracts over 500 entrants every year.
Some 40 make their way to the national finals that are held either in Wellington, Auckland or Christchurch and all will now receive a Jack Richards travel grant.
Lixin Zhang, one of Dr. Richards’ sponsored young pianists, has won first place in the prestigious Wallace National Piano Competition.
Here is a video of his final performance. Well done!
Dr. Richards' sponsored young musicians received prizes at the 11th International Competition for Young Pianists 'A Step Towards Mastery' in St. Petersburg, Russia June 2-9, 2017.
Both are in the Rising Stars program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
In the final Leroy played Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 with the State Capella Orchestra of St. Petersburg. Calvin played Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the same orchestra.
In February and March 2017 Jack Richards sponsored a series of New Zealand concerts by EDITH FISCHER – pianist and protégé of Claudio Arrau and Founder and Artistic Director of Semaine Internationale de Piano et Musique de Chambre, Blonay, Switzerland, and her husband JORGE PEPI-ALOS – pianist and composer Professor at the University of Chile, Santiago. Their visit included a piano recital for four-hands as part of the Tiromoana Summer Concert Series (held in Jack and Won Gyu Moon’s New Zealand summer residence) as well as a recital as part of the Creative New Zealand/Jack C Richards Composer in Residence Program at Victoria University, Wellington.
In the photo Jack is seen with Edith and Jorge following their Christchurch recital, and together with Christchurch pianist Tony Chen Lin, who accompanied the musicians on their New Zealand tour.
On November 26th, Jack Richards sponsored a fund raising piano recital by 14 year old virtuoso pianist Joshua Han at the Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne.
Program:
Taiwanese-born pianist Ting Chia Hsu 
– currently studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music – has won first prize in the International Piano Competition Teresa Llacuna in Valence France, held in April 2014.
His participation in the competition was sponsored by Jack Richards.
Jack’s 12 year old piano protégé Joshua Han won his second international young pianist’s competition in less than a year, winning both the Category A 1st Prize as well as the Audience Prize at the prestigious Aarhus International Piano Competition for young pianists in Denmark in March 2015. In August 2014 Joshua won the first prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, in Ettlingen, Germany.
Josh and his family were guests at Jack’s New Zealand summer house in January 2015, and Josh and his brother Oscar – a very talented violinist – performed at a charity concert in Gisborne.
The piano concerto commissioned by Jack from New Zealand composer Gareth Farr in 2014, had a repeat performance on April 1 2015.
Pianist Tony Lee returned to perform the concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.
Jack Richards is sponsoring an annual series of afternoon recitals in the Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne, featuring student performers from the New Zealand School of Music.
There will be six concerts scheduled throughout the year. These will be free events for Gisborne residents and are intended both to showcase the talents of NZSM students as well as to help expand the community outreach of the museum.
Following the enthusiastic reception of the piece for bassoon and piano Jack commissioned from Chinese composer Gao Ping, Jack has commissioned a further piece – a trio for piano, flute and bassoon. You can hear the bassoon and piano piece played on Saturday Jan 10th 2015 during the Tiromoana Summer Concert Series here.
Dr Richards is principal sponsor for the New Zealand Classical Guitar Competition, held at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington.
Find out more here.
Sonidos Para La Vida (Sounds for Life) is a Guatemalan organization dedicated to changing the lives of boys and girls in risky situations. The principal mission is PREVENTION through MUSIC. Dr. Richards has provided a grant for the children in this program.
To find out more about the program click here.
The children, from economically disadvantaged communities, are studying English with Jack’s support in Antigua. They also receive free music lessons from their teacher – Edwin Ruiz, who has worked with children for over 30 years.
The children recorded this thank you video for Jack.
Young musicians Oscar and Joshua Han – finalists in Australia’s Got Talent – are being supported by Jack Richards in the Rising Stars Progamme at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Jack Richards commissioned a violin for Oscar. Click here to see a video on the making of the violin.
Dr. Richards is an enthusiastic art and music lover and supporter of activities such as the Tiromoana Summer Concerts and the New Zealand School of Music Composer in Residence.
“Composers are often dependent upon commissions to enable them to devote time to full-time work on significant pieces. Many famous works in the musical repertoire resulted from private commissions, and in recent years I have begun sponsoring a range of both small-scale as well as larger-scale works by New Zealand (or New Zealand-based) composers, in order to help them enrich the New Zealand musical landscape.”
Jack commissioned a piano concerto by leading New Zealand composer Gareth Farr. The first performance of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on March 28, 2014, with pianist Tony Lee. Read a review of the concerto here.