Brian Wright - Conductor

Biography

Brian Wright studied conducting as a Gulbenkian scholar in London and Munich, working closely with George Hurst, Jascha Horenstein and Rudolf Kempe. He won Second Prize in the Rupert Foundation Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra and
the Silver Medal in the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition at La Scala, Milan. He was Assistant to André Previn and the LSO and for ten years was Associate Conductor with the BBC, conducting concerts and broadcasts with all the BBC's orchestras.


Brian won particular praise for his

performances of Berlioz and Liszt at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as for UK premières of Lutoslawski and Penderecki and the world première of Robert Simpson’s 7th Symphony. He conducted the BBCSO in an acclaimed BBC2 production of Stravinsky's Pulcinella - now on DVD.


Brian is currently Music Director of Maidstone Symphony Orchestra and of Goldsmiths Choral Union in London. He has conducted the LSO at London’s Barbican Hall, and the BBCSO, Philharmonia, London Philharmonic and RPO at the Royal Festival Hall. He has been guest conductor with all the other major British orchestras - the BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, English Chamber, Hallé, London Mozart Players, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National and Ulster Orchestra. In June 2005 he conducted the opening concert of BBC Radio 3’s award winning “Beethoven Experience”. He has toured in Europe with the BBCSO, in Europe and the Far East with the RPO, and has recorded for EMI and Decca in the UK, Teldec and Crystal Records in the USA and Spanish Regis Tro.


Brian enjoys a close association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2000/1 he conducted the RPO in a tour of China – “A great interpretation of Beethoven’s 5th from a world class conductor and orchestra” ... “A concert on the highest level in China in recent years", wrote the Shanghai press. He regularly conducts in the RPO’s London International Series, performing at both the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall in 2005/6. In 2006 he conducted an acclaimed performance of Berlioz’s monumental Grande Messe des Morts for the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius in the RPO’s 2007/8 season. 2008/9 brings Fauré’s Requiem and Berlioz’s Te Deum.


Brian has been a guest conductor in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Mexico, Romania, the Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. He gave the Asian première of Anthony Payne’s realisation of Elgar’s 3rd Symphony with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2003/4 was a guest conductor with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He was Music Director for the Seychelles International Festivals of 2002 and 2004. Last season, 2006/7, he was a guest conductor in Norway and Slovenia, and with the George Enescu Philharmonic in Romania, where he was immediately re-engaged for 2008/9.

Conducting in Bucharest, 2007