John Wesley Wright

Bio

JOHN WESLEY WRIGHT

Tenor John Wesley Wright, D. M. A., is known for his artistic and soulful interpretations of music from Bach to Broadway. Holding degrees from Maryville College (Maryville, Tennessee) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Cincinnati, Ohio), his diversity as an artist has afforded him nationally televised concerts for the Belgian Royal Family (Brussels, Belgium) and the Kennedy clan (New Ross, Ireland), as well as tours as a soloist and with professional ensembles throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan.

With a host of opera and oratorio roles, art songs, spirituals, chamber and cabaret music in his repertoire, Wright has been a core member of the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble since 2006. His rendition of “Here’s One” is highlighted in the PBS documentary, The Spirituals: Featuring the American Spiritual Ensemble, released in 2007. In subsequent years, Wright was guest soloist for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society (Mozart's Requiem, Bach's B Minor Mass and Magnificat); Dayton Bach Society (St. Matthew Passion, Evangelist); Messiah Festival of the Arts in Lindsborg, Kansas (Messiah, St. Matthew Passion); and performed in Lucerne, Switzerland as guest artist with the Matthäuskantorei choir for a program entitled “Black and White Spirituals.”

Having worked with such conductors as Tom Hall, Nicolas McGegan, Ton Koopman, and Robert Page, many of Wright’s concert career experiences have been under the baton of Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. With Gittleman and the DPO, he has sung the arias and title roles of Bach’s Passions, Britten’s War Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, and Einhorn’s Voices of Light. In May of 2011, Wright returned to Ohio triumphing in the role of the Celebrant in Bernstein’s Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, reviews praising his “mastery of the oratorio genre” and “impressive acting range and voice”. He made his Lincoln Center debut in 2017 as soloist for Handel’s Messiah with the National Chorale.

John Wesley Wright is the gold medalist and top prizewinner of the American Traditions Vocal Competition 2000, a competition celebrating performance excellence and proficiency in diverse American music genres such as folk, spirituals, art song, and blues. Wright has claimed other top prizes and awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs, Metropolitan Opera National Council, and the International Schubert Competition (Vienna, Austria). His doctoral dissertation (2014) studies musical borrowings underlying the role of the Celebrant in Bernstein’s Mass. In recent years, he received citations from the State Senate of Maryland lauding his scholarship, teaching, and performance of African American spirituals, and the University of Maryland Board of Regents’ Award for Excellence in Creative Activity, respectively.

A native of Rome, Georgia, Dr. Wright is Professor of Music and coordinator of the voice and opera programs at Salisbury University (Salisbury, Maryland). He is an artist advocate, producer, stage director, clinician, consultant, and leader of workshops on voice production, song interpretation, acting for singers, and African American song traditions around the country, including a thirty+ year passion project of vocal coaching men’s and women’s choirs in various Ohio correctional facilities.