British vocal teacher rates NZ Opera School in Whanganui ‘a very special school’

British vocal tutor Richard Jackson's teaching style is completely different to that of other tutors at the NZ Opera School. Photo / John Wansbrough

British vocal tutor Richard Jackson literally leaps into every student’s lesson.

At the New Zealand Opera School at Whanganui Collegiate School, students are thrilled by a tutor who physically moves with the aria and the music.

To see Jackson stretching, bending and sliding around the studio is in complete contrast to other tutors who are mostly still while watching and listening.

Jackson laughs and says he’s never been any other way.

The ‘’leaping around’' was part of who he was and always had been, he said.

“Sometimes the singer will join me but mostly they’ll sing on.”

Born and raised in Cornwall in a village with a “complicated” name, he said his love of singing was sparked after he was sent away to boarding school when he was 13.

“My parents were very pleased because according to them I was a clever little lad winning a scholarship to a top school.

“It was a school where music was important and I loved it.”

He never returned to live permanently in Cornwall but continued his musical career at the illustrious Kings College for three years before launching life as a successful baritone based in London.

He was a founding member of the top group Songmakers Almanac, singing in the United States, Hong Kong and the music festivals of Edinburgh, Bath and Aldeburgh. He sang Onegin under Rostropovich, Menotti’s Maria Golovin directed by the composer; he was the original Christus in Jonathan Miller’s famous St Matthew Passion staging and sang for Glyndebourne and Opera North.

Before retiring as a singer he was involved with contemporary music performance, or art songs as he calls them.

He teaches both German and French song at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

As well as being in demand at the Royal College of Music in London, he is also in demand as a leader of masterclasses throughout the world including Australia and Beijing.

Jackson was thrilled to be in New Zealand at the Opera School in Whanganui.

“I can’t believe how beautiful it is here - the trees, the gardens - as you can imagine London is very bleak at the moment.”

And the young Kiwi singers were quite superb, he said.

“I am loving being here. This is a very special school.”