Researching Harold Wright

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he received a B.Sc in geological engineering and a M.Sc in metallurgical engineering from the University of Utah. He also received an MA in geology from the University of British Columbia. In 1947 he established a consulting firm called Wright Engineers.

He competed in athletics (100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay) at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

From 1964 to 1968 he was president of the Canadian Field Hockey Association. From 1969 to 1977 he was president of the Canadian Olympic Association, during the first Olympic Games to be hosted in Canada. He also served as director of the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada and the British Columbia Sports Federation.

Wright was born in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and began his clarinet studies at age twelve. He continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as a student of Ralph McLane of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He became a member of the Houston Symphony after graduating and in the following year became principal clarinetist of the Dallas Symphony. He went on to become the Principal Clarinetist of the National Symphony in Washington D.C. and played there until joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 1970-71 season. For 7 seasons he was the Principal Clarinetist of the Casals Festival Orchestra. He performed, toured and recorded as a member of the Marlboro Festival with Rudolf Serkin and as a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.

Harold Wright was a noted chamber musician and performed with all of the country's leading string quartets, including the Juilliard, Guarneri, Budapest and Vermeer Quartets. He was a regular guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Players, the Mostly Mozart Festival and the chamber music concerts at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. A partial list of his recordings as a chamber musician include the Mozart, Brahms, Weber and Coleridge-Taylor Clarinet Quintets, Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock (with Benita Valente and Rudolf Serkin), Bruch Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, Mozart Trio, Schumann Fairy Tales and Fantasy Pieces, Brahms Trio, Beethoven Septet and Octet, Dvořák Serenade, Schubert Octet, Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat, Mozart Serenades in Cm and Bb (Gran Partita). As a soloist, he recorded the Mozart Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa conducting. Wright taught at the Tanglewood Music Center, New England Conservatory and at Boston University.

He incorporated German, French and American styles of playing into his sound.

Richard Dyer, music critic of the Boston Globe said of him,

"Although Harold Wright is a consummate virtuoso of the clarinet, you don't so much listen to him as overhear him as he steals sound from silence; drawing us into a volatile private world of thought, feeling and dream."

Wright died in Marlboro, Vermont.

Category:American classical clarinetistsCategory:1926 birthsCategory:1993 deathsCategory:Curtis Institute of Music alumniCategory:People from Delaware County, PennsylvaniaCategory:20th-century classical musiciansCategory:20th-century American musicians

The following is a list of the Waterloo Cup winning greyhounds that he trained:*1912 Tide Time*1922 Guards Brigade*1934 Bryn Truthful*1935 Dee Rock*1940 Dee Flint*1941 Swinging Light*1942 Swinging Light*1945 Bryn Tritoma*1946 Maesydd Michael