Biography
Baritone Graham Wright regularly performs as a soloist with musical organizations from New England through the Southeast, including Opera Boston, Boston Lyric Opera, Newton Symphony, Intermezzo Chamber Opera, the Boston Pops, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and the Opera Company of Brooklyn. Graham has appeared as title characters in Gianni Schicchi, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Dido and Aeneas, as well as in the roles of Don Magnifico (Cenerentola) Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia and Le nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte), Belcore (Elixir of Love), Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Escamillo (Carmen), and the Pirate King (Pirates of Penzance). Since 2005, Graham has been a regular chorus member at the Boston Lyric Opera, having appeared in the ensemble for productions of Lucie de Lammermoor, Eugene Onegin, la Traviata, Thais, and Un ballo in maschera. In concert and oratorio, Graham has performed as a soloist in the Requiems of Duruflé, Fauré, Brahms and Mozart, as the title character in Mendelssohn's Elijah, and as a regular member of the Bach Cantata Series at Marsh Chapel.
The 2008-2009 season begins with fall performances of Don Magnifico in Rossini's Cenerentola, followed by the title role in Gianni Schicchi with Boston Opera Collaborative, Der Freischütz with Opera Boston (ensemble and Kaspar cover), and the Lieutenant in Yeoman of the Guard with the Bostonians. Amidst a fall full of opera and operetta come performances as bass soloist in Bach Cantata 29 with the Marsh Chapel Collegium, Bach Cantata 79 with Exsultemus, Schütz Musikalische Exequien with Back Bay Chorale and Handel's Messiah with the Assabet Valley Mastersingers. The spring of 2009 brings Graham's solo debut with Opera Boston as Ivan Ivanovich and the Lackey in Shostakovich's The Nose, followed by performances of Bach's St. John Passion (Pilate and bass soloist) with the Marsh Chapel Collegium, Seven Deadly Sins (Mother) with Opera Boston Underground and A Winter's Tale with BMOP.
As a recipient of the Emerson Fellowship and Ragnar and Margaret Naess Award at the, Graham presented a recital of Schubert's Schwanengesang in the Advanced Music Performance (AMP) recital series and created the role of Tim Johnson in the world premier of Charles Shadle and Michael Ouellette's new opera Coyote's Dinner. He may also be heard as a soloist and vocal quartet member on the soundtrack of the National Film Preservation Foundation's critically-acclaimed DVD collection More Treasures from the American Film Archive. A native of South Carolina, Graham is an alumnus of Furman University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graham continues to engage his interests in chemistry that originally brought him to Boston -- he is particularly involved in pharmaceutical research education and training.