The official website of educator Jack C Richards

Sponsored Activities in Support of Music and the Arts 2021

  • January: Recitals by Samuel Woosol Jeon – 17 yrs old (piano) & Christine Yesol Jeon – 13 yrs old (cello) at Tiromoana.
  • March: Piano recital by Lixin Zhang, at Waikato University, Hamilton.
  • April: Piano recital by Tony Yan Tong Chen at Tiromoana.
  • April: Piano recital by Jian Liu at Tiromoana.
  • July: Vocal recital by William King (baritone) at Tiromoana.
  • July: Concert by students from the Waikato University School of Music – at Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne
  • Further events to be confirmed

Other activities:

  • Scholarships for students in the Toihokura Program in Contemporary Maori Arts
  • Patron of the Gisborne International Music Competition                                  
  • Support for the Tairawhiti Arts Festival 2021
  • Grant to the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to support New Zealand musicians
  • Sponsorship of a CD to be recorded by pianist Tony Yan Tong Chen for Rattle Records
  • Jack C Richards Travel Scholarship, provided to all finalists in the Chamber Music New Zealand School Chamber Music Competition

Activities in Support of Musicians

Dr. Richards was active in support of musicians and cultural activities in 2020. Primary among these activities were:

  • Sponsorship of piano recitals by two New Zealand musicians whose studies overseas were disrupted due to the Corona Virus
  • September 6th, Piano recital by Tony Chen at St Andrew’s Church, Wellington
  • October 20th, all Chopin recital by Lixin Zhang at St Andrews Church, Wellington.

A series of house concerts were also organized at Tiromoana in Gisborne:

  • August 30th: Piano recital by Nicholas Kovacev.
  • September 6th: Recital by Will King (baritone) and Nicholas Kovacev at Tiromoana
  • October 20th: Piano recital by Liam Furey
  • November 22nd: Pianist Ya-Ting Liou performed Beethoven’s Diabelli Variatios

Support for other cultural activities included:

  • Support for the Tairawhiti Arts Fair, Gisborne (October)
  • Support for renovations of the kitchen at Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne
  • Support for the Gisborne International Music Competition (November)
  • Grant to the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to support New Zealand musicians in the UK
  • Sponsorship of a concert to honour New Zealand composer John Psathias (December)
  • Sponsorship of the New Zealand Classical Guitar Competition (December)
  • Sponsorship of a CD to be recorded by Tony Chen for Rattle Records (December)

Concerts in support of the Gisborne International Music Competition 2019/2020

Dr. Richards sponsored a number of fundraising concerts over the New Zealand summer.

On December 15th 2019 at the Lawson Field Theater in Gisborne three outstanding  New Zealand pianists Maria Mo, Lixin Zhang and Tony Tay Tong Chen performed at three concerts:

  • Concert 1:  With music by Ravel, Albeniz, Manuel de Falla, Granados, Marquez
  • Concert 2: With music by Brahms (the complete waltzes), Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin
  • Concert 3: With music by Berg, Scriabin, Janacek Prokofiev, and Psathas

 On Sunday January 26th 2020 Baritone William King with associate artist Bruce Greenfield (piano) presented the following programme at Tiromoana:

  • Kaddisch — Ravel
  • Dichterliebe — Schumann
  • Silent Noon — Vaughan Williams
  • King David — Howells
  • Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo — Mozart, Cosi Fan tutte

On Sunday February 9th  2020 Sydney pianist Paul Cheung played at Tiromoana. His programme was:

  • F. Chopin The complete Preludes Op. 28
  • F. Kreisler (arr. S. Rachmaninoff) Liebesleid
  • S. Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2 in Bb minor, Op. 36

Celebrations at City University in Hong Kong

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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Confirmed Presentations in 2019

March 8-10, 2019:

  • Kongu Engineering University, Tamil Nadu, India. Lecture series sponsored by the Department of English

March 13, 2019:

  • Product and Process in Program Evaluation. Paper presented at RELC Conference, Singapore

May 3, 2019:

  • Developing a college English Coursebook series for Chinese University Students.
  • Lecture: Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand

May 25, 2019:

  • Plenary address: KOTESOL Conference, Jeonju, South Korea

July 2019:

  • Teaching in the Diploma in Applied Linguistics Program, RELC Singapore

July 29, 2019:

  • Plenary address: International Conference on language teaching. Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Sponsorship for young New Zealand pianists

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

New Series of Practical Booklets for Teachers

Dr Richards and his colleague at the Regional Language Centre, Singapore - Dr  Marie Yeo - are editing a new series of practical low cost booklets for teachers and teacher trainers.

The first three titles in the new series are now available, and include one by Dr Richards called Planning a Language Course: Principles and Procedures.

NPS 1

NPS 2

NPS 3

Professor at the top of his game

Gisborne’s Professor Jack Richards has been named one of the 50 most influential language teaching specialists in the world — and the only Kiwi. Reporter Kim Parkinson meets the man known for his generosity in supporting the arts, at his summer home Tiromoana in Okitu.

Read the rest of the Gisborne Herald article here.

 

Confirmed events and activities from Dr.Richards’ Calendar for 2018

April 2018:

  • Plenary lecture at the RELC Seminar, Singapore.
  • Plenary lecture at the ASEAN ELT Conference, Malacca, Malaysia.
  • Lectures to the MA class at City University, Hong Kong.
  • Presentation to the Hong Kong Association of Applied linguistics.

May 2018:

  • Lectures at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, China

July 2018:

  • Course on teaching listening and speaking: RELC Diploma n Applied Linguistics, RELC Singapore

September 2018:

  • Workshop on curriculum development: TESOL Research Colloquium, Sydney University

October 2018:

  • Keynote address. National ELT Conference, Beijing, China.

Debut CD by Tony Chen Lin

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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

NZ Concerts by Jun Hong Loh & Tony Chen Lin

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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.