Ms. Jane Putnam has been appointed curator of the Jack C Richards decorative arts collection. In this capacity she will develop a data base for the several hundred items in the collection, monitor the condition of items, prepare documentation on pieces and liaise with galleries displaying items from the collection.
Key Issues in Language Teaching – a major overview and discussion of the field of English language teaching, was published in September 2015, by Cambridge University Press. Jack has been working on this project for over 5 years. The final book is 826 pages and is available both as a print book and an e-book.
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.
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.
Two of Dr. Richards books will be published in Korean Translations: Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, and Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching.
Dr Richards has accepted an invitation to join the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland as an honorary professor. In this role he will consult with research students and give guest lectures.
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.
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.
Outstanding young 12-year-old Australian pianist – Joshua Han – who is sponsored by Jack Richards, was the first prize winner in the junior division at the Ettlingen International Piano Competition for young pianists, at Ettlingen, Germany in August 2014. Joshua received the highest mark ever awarded – 99.9%.
Previous prize winners at this prestigious competition have included Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.
Jack Richards and Kiri Te Kanawa at a function at the Royal Opera House, London, in March, to celebrate Dame Kiri’s birthday and long association with the Royal Opera House
Click here to see Professor Richards being interviewed by Hayo Reinders about his new book, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Third Edition, published in March 2014.
The 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.