James K. Wright: Difference between revisions

'''James Kenneth Wright''' is a [[Canadian]] [[composer]], [[pianist]], and [[musicologist]]. His notable compositions include works such as ''Letters to the Immortal Beloved'', and his award-winning books include ''Schoenberg, Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle'',<ref name=ejs>{{citeCite web|url=https://libris.kb.se/bib/10569172|title=Schoenberg, Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle|first=James K.|last=Wright|date=June 28, 2007|publisher=Peter Lang}}</ref> ''They Shot, He Scored: the Life and Music of Eldon Rathburn'',<ref name=lkj>{{citeCite web|url=https://squ.on.worldcat.org/search?queryString=no%3A1080221123|title=They shot, he scored : the life and music of Eldon Rathburn}}</ref> and ''Monstrosity, Identity and Music: Mediating Uncanny Creatures from Frankenstein to Videogames''.<ref name=aoes>{{citeCite web|url=httphttps://libris.kb.se/bib/l3h0pk8sjrmnqktt|title=Monstrosity, Identityidentity, and Musicmusic : Mediatingmediating Uncannyuncanny Creaturescreatures from Frankenstein to Videogamespost-humanism|date=June 28, 2022}}</ref>

Wright completed a [[Bachelor of Music]] degree at [[Wilfrid Laurier University]] in 1981, followed by a [[Master of Arts]] in [[Music Theory]] at [[McGill University]] in 1987. In 2002, he earned a [[PHD|Ph.D.]] in Music Theory from [[McGill University]], where he received a Governor General's Gold Medal for his research and scholarly record.<ref name=es>{{citeCite web|url=https://carleton.ca/music/people/wright-james/|title=James Wright - Carleton|website=carleton.ca}}</ref>

Wright's nine-movement choral cycle, ''A Gallery of Song: Spirit of the Land'', features settings of youth poetry inspired by the works of artists from Canada's ''Group of Seven''. The piece premiered in 2003 at the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario.<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www.mcsingers.ca/gallery-of-song/|title=Gallery of Song – Mississauga Chamber Singers (formerly MCSChorus)}}</ref>

Wright's 2012 composition, ''Letters to the Immortal Beloved'', is a chamber art song cycle inspired by love letters penned by [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] to his mysterious ''Immortal Beloved'', whose identity remains a topic of debate among musicologists.<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www-.operabase-com.translate.googcom/works/letters-to-the-immortal-beloved-286029/sl?_x_tr_sl=sl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc&_x_tr_hist=true|title=Letters to the Immortal Beloved avtorja James K. Wright|website=Operabase}}</ref> Written during a composer residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the work was premiered by [[Canadian]] mezzo-soprano [[Julie Nesrallah]] and the Gryphon Trio at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival on July 27, 2012. Reviewing a March 30, 2024 performance by Luxembourg baritone, David John Pike, [[Edinburgh]] critic Bryan Bannatyne-Scott wrote, "We are indebted to James Wright for giving musical life to the sentiments expressed in Beethoven's letters, and his three-song cycle was a revelation. In a modern idiom but grounded in harmony, and very well set for the baritone voice, the songs, with important parts for all three instruments in the trio, took us into the heart of Beethoven’s essentially hopeless longing".<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www.edinburghmusicreview.com/reviews/david-john-pike-24|title=David John Pike: Immortal and Beloved|website=Edinburgh Music Review}}</ref>

In 2013, Wright's choral work ''To Young Canadians'',<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://cypresschoral.com/composers/james-wright/to-young-canadians/|title=TO YOUNG CANADIANS}}</ref> featured words excerpted from a letter titled Letter to Canadians, written by Canadian politician [[Jack Layton]] on his deathbed. It was premiered at the presentation of the Ottawa Peace Award to Layton’s widow, Olivia Chow.<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/council/office-of-the-mayor/about-mayor/|title=About Mayor Olivia Chow|date=February 24, 2023|website=City of Toronto}}</ref>

In 2022, Wright's String Quartet No. 1, a four-movement work inspired by the beauty of Lake Scattergood in the [[Outaouais]] region of southwestern [[Québec]], was recorded by the Andara String Quartet of [[Montreal]].<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://leaf-music.ca/music/lm262/|title=De Mille Feux &#124; Leaf Music}}</ref> About the quartet, CBC Music wrote "James K. Wright's lush, tuneful String Quartet No. 1, titled 'Ellen at Scattergood,' is one of the year's best discoveries".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/music/our-22-favourite-canadian-classical-albums-of-2022-1.6656831|title=Our 22 favourite Canadian classical albums of 2022}}</ref>

Wright has also published books during his career. His 2006 ''Schoenberg, Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle'' examines parallels between Arnold Schoenberg’s harmonic and aesthetic theories and Ludwig Wittgenstein's early philosophical ideas, particularly from the ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'', suggesting shared epistemological foundations.<ref name=ejs/> His 2009 book ''Schoenberg's Chamber Music, Schoenberg's World'', co-edited by Alan Gillmor, presents a scholarly collection of essays commemorating Schoenberg's landmark Second String Quartet, exploring its historical, theoretical, and biographical contexts, alongside its influence on subsequent composers internationally.<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/316099376|title=Schoenberg's chamber music, Schoenberg's world &#124; WorldCat.org|website=search.worldcat.org}}</ref> In 2019, he authored ''They Shot, He Scored: The Life and Music of Eldon Rathburn'', a biography and critical analysis of the work of Canadian composer Eldon Rathburn. The book highlights Rathburn's career as a composer for the National Film Board, his IMAX film scores, and his orchestral and chamber compositions.<ref name=lkj/> Reviewing the book, Michael Brendan Baker wrote that "the central argument of the monograph, that Rathburn is perhaps the most important composer in the history of the NFB and Canadian film at large, is presented with nuance and insight and thus represents a critical addition to our understanding of film music in Canada."<ref>{{citeCite webjournal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/756308|title=They Shot, He Scored: The Life and Music of Eldon Rathburn by James K. Wright and Allyson Rogers (review)|first=Michael Brendan|last=Baker|date=June 28, 2020|journal=The Canadian Historical Review|volume=101|issue=2|pages=309–310|via=Project MUSE}}</ref> In 2022, his book ''Monstrosity, Identity and Music: Mediating Uncanny Creatures from Frankenstein to Videogames'', co-edited by Alexis Luko, presented essays examining depictions of the monstrous in music, film, television, and videogames, through a variety of contemporary analytical lenses.<ref name=aoes/>

*2006 – (Finalist) Lewis Lockwood Award (for Schoenberg, Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle), [[American Musicological Society]]<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://www.amsmusicology.org/page/Lockwood_Winners|title=American Musicological Society}}</ref>