[1] His parents were not musicians, but his uncle, John Farrell, was an actor and singer with J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd.[1] He attended St Mary's Convent School and St. Patrick's College, both in Wellington.
At age seven Farrell played his own composition, a lament on the death of Archbishop Francis Redwood, in a public concert with the Wellington Symphony Orchestra.
[3] At the age of 12 he moved to Sydney, Australia with his mother Ella and two brothers, Peter and Paul, going on to study under Alexander Sverjensky at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music for five years.
Farrell returned to New Zealand in 1939 and 1942, giving recitals and performances, but spent most of his time in Australia, where he received much support from the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
[4] In 1944 he won the NSW state final of the inaugural competition that later evolved into the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards.
Copland was heard to commend Farrell for performing the sonata without the aid of a musical score, saying, "Although I composed it myself, I can't memorise it".
[6] He first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on 2 December 1950, playing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting.
[2] He also frequently collaborated with his compatriots, the conductors James Robertson and Warwick Braithwaite, who said, "At times during performances his artistic temperament would take charge and quite suddenly the whole concerto would be suffused with a glow of intense musical depth and understanding".
These collaborations with Braithwaite concluded with a brilliant performance of Franz Liszt's First Piano Concerto in front of Queen Elizabeth during her first Royal Tour of New Zealand in 1954.
39, and the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel; Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand and Gaspard de la nuit; Chopin's B minor Sonata and Études, Op.
[6] He formed the Richard Farrell Piano Quartet with the violinist Brenton Langbein, the violist Eduard Melkus and the cellist Ottomar Borwitzky.
He also often performed with the London String Quartet and with solo artists such as the cellists Pablo Casals and Paul Grümmer and Bernhard Braunholz.