The official website of educator Jack C Richards

Current Scholarships and Grants 2018

  • Jack Richards sponsored recordings of CDs by Tony Chen Lin (piano) and Lixin Zhang. Both CDs will be published by Rattle Records, New Zealand
  • In April, Jack Richards is sponsoring a series of recitals by Singaporean violinist Jun Hong Loh (winner of the 2016 Gisborne International Music Competition) and New Zealand pianist Tony Chen Lin.
  • Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne New Zealand– sponsorship of 6 concerts featuring students from the New Zealand School of Music
  • Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne – grant for acquisition (Ruanuku award)
  • Toihoukura program in Contemporary Maori Arts, Gisborne – student scholarships
  • Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation – grant to support the Foundation’s support for emerging opera singers
  • Support for university studies: Lester Cajes Manila; John Yanson Manila; Sedigh Mohammadi  UK
  • Professional development grant: Tony Chen Lin (pianist), New Zealand/Germany
  • Sponsorship of websites for Jun Hong Lo (More Than Music) and Tony Chen Lin.
  • Dr Richards also provides ongoing sponsorship of The Gisborne International Music Competition.

Support for School Chamber Music Groups

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.

Sponsored Young Musicians Receive Prizes

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.

  • Leroy Ma – 3rd Prize Category B (aged 12-15 years).  Leroy is 13 and was the youngest in his category who made the final.
  • Calvin Abdiel – 2nd Prize Category C (16-19 years). Calvin is 16 and was also the youngest in his category who made the final.

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.

Jack Sponsors New Zealand Tour by Two Distinguished Latin-American Pianists

Jack-Edith-Jorge-Tony

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.

Piano recital by Joshua Han

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:

  1.  Piano Sonata No.21 ‘Waldstein’ Ludwig van Beethoven
  2. Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata. Franz Liszt
  3. Variations on a Theme from Carmen. Horowitz

Joshua Han wins two prizes in Aarhus

Josh-and-JackJack’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.

Tairawhiti Museum Free Concerts

Tairawhiti-MuseumJack 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.

Gao Ping Trio Commission

gao-pingFollowing 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.

Gracias Jack

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.

New Zealand Composers

nz-school-musicDr. 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.”

Gareth Farr

gareth-farr-composerJack 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.

Gareth Farr Concerto

Orchestra-Review_IPThe first performance of Gareth Farr’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, commissioned by Jack Richards, was performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and pianist Tony Lee  on March 28, 2014. The concerto has received rave reviews on its first performance. Read the reviews here, here and here.