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 the Silver Medal in the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition at La Scala, Milan, and Second Prize in the Rupert Foundation Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra. He was Assistant to André Previn and the LSO and then Associate Conductor to the BBC, conducting concerts and broadcasts with all the BBC's orchestras.

Brian won particular praise for performances of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts and Liszt’s Christus 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 for Ballet Rambert in an acclaimed BBC2 production of Stravinsky's Pulcinella - commercially available on DVD. In 2005 he conducted the opening concert of BBC Radio 3’s “Beethoven Experience”.

Brian has conducted the LSO, BBCSO, RPO, Philharmonia and London Philharmonic at London’s Royal Festival and Barbican Halls. He has been a guest conductor with all of the other major British orchestras: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, English Chamber, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National and Ulster Orchestra. He toured in Europe with the BBCSO, in Europe and in the Far East with the RPO, and has been a guest conductor in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Mexico, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. He has recorded for the EMI, Decca, Teldec, Crystal and Regis Tro labels.

Brian enjoys a close association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, regularly conducting in their London International Series and touring China in 2000/1. Two of his concerts with the RPO in 2010 feature Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. In 2007/8 he was a guest conductor in Norway and Slovenia, and Romania where he returns in 2010/11. He is also Music Director of the highly regarded UK “community orchestra” Maidstone Symphony Orchestra and celebrates their centenary in 2010/11 with a commission from John McCabe.

Brian is renowned for his performances of the symphonic choral repertoire. He was Conductor of the BBC Symphony Chorus for 10 years and has been Music Director of Goldsmiths Choral Union in London for over 35 years. A highlight of 2006/7 was an acclaimed broadcast performance of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts for the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2007/8 he conducted Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius for the RPO at the RAH, with Fauré’s Requiem and Berlioz’s Te Deum in 2008/9 and Verdi’s Requiem in 2009/10. 2010/11 brings a programme of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, with the renowned Norwegian soprano Solveig Kringelborn, and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall.

RPO concert at the Royal Albert Hall, 2009