Professor Richards has been invited to contribute to a new series of practical professional books for teachers of English in China. The series is being published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, the educational publishing division of Beijing University of Foreign Studies and the largest university press in China. The series editors for the books are Professor Guoxing Yu (Bristol University) and Professor Peter Gu (Victoria University, Wellington). The title and contents of Professor Richards’ book are:
The reasoning behind my decision to close down the Jack C Richards Decorative Arts Gallery at The TairāwhitiMuseum, Gisborne
On 23 December 2011 the Museum and I signed an agreement that the museum trust would build an extension, to be known as ‘the Richards Gallery’ to be funded by Jack Richards at a cost of some $350,000.
The agreement stated that the gallery would primarily be used for the purpose of housing and displaying objects on loan from Jack Richards’ collection, but also items from the Museum’s own collection and touring exhibitions. The agreement also specified that items from the Richards collection would be displayed in a different section of the gallery from items from the museum collection. The MOU states:
“The museum may exhibit items other than Jack Richards collection for up to four months each year in the general exhibition component of the gallery”.
In May Dr. Richards spoke at an event to mark the restoration of a pipe organ built by Dr. Richards’ uncle William Croft, at St Andrew’s Church, Wellington.
For a note on the organ building company founded by Jack’s grandfather, please read on:
In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Dr Richards spoke about how he first became involved in sponsoring the arts, and stressed the importance of supporting artists.
One series is a 4 level integrated course, entitled Over to You, the first level of which has now been published. The second series is a 4 level listening and speaking course.
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
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 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.
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.