
Dr. Richards with participants, judges and prize winners in the National Classical Guitar Competition in December 2022, an event which Dr. Richards sponsors
Dr. Richards with participants, judges and prize winners in the National Classical Guitar Competition in December 2022, an event which Dr. Richards sponsors
Dr. Richards is sponsoring piano students Otis Prescott Mason and William Perry to participate in master classes at the festival de la Semaine Internationale de Piano in Blonay, Switzerland in August 2022.
Jack Richards is an active supporter of musical and cultural initiatives and activities in New Zealand. In 2014 he received the prestigious Award for Patronage 2014, by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, acknowledging his support for music and the arts.
Past and current support includes;
Dr. Richards was active in support of musicians and cultural activities in 2020. Primary among these activities were:
A series of house concerts were also organized at Tiromoana in Gisborne:
Support for other cultural activities included:
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.
Dr Richards is sponsoring the following concerts to be held in the Tairawhiti Museum in 2020.
For more information, please see the Tairawhiti Museum Concerts 2020 page.
Dr. Richards is patron of the Gisborne International Music Competition, an annual competition for players of orchestral instruments.
2019 was the 30th anniversary of the competition, which featured outstanding young musicians from New Zealand, Australia, the US and Singapore.
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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.
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!
Follow this link to buy his CD from RATTLE Records.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Here are some photos from the current exhibit at the Jack C Richards Decorative Arts Gallery in Gisborne, New Zealand.
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: