andrew

Born in Dundee, Scotland, Andrew Wright showed an early interest in music and had his first piano lessons at the age of seven. Further lessons followed with William Stevenson, but after he left school, Andrew did not play piano for several years. A chance meeting with his former teacher resulted in him recommencing studies, taking lessons with Kenneth van Barthold and Nicholas Pope.

Andrew has an active interest in exploring the music of semi-forgotten composers of the romantic era, such as Liapunov, Tausig and Thalberg, and is especially interested in transcriptions. He is also interested in improvisation and has written several compositions.

Over the last few years, Andrew has performed regularly in public, giving concerts throughout Scotland and the North of England. His recording of Thalberg's piano solo arrangement of 'Casta Diva' was used on the soundtrack in the Australian documentary programme, 'Compass'.

In 2012, he fulfilled a long-held ambition by making a studio recording of selected transcriptions from opera. The disc, "A Night at the Opera", is available online at cdbaby.com, and was later reissued by Divine Art Recordings Group as "The Operatic Pianist".

A sequel disc was recorded in 2016, featuring several previously unrecorded pieces, and released the following year as "The Operatic Pianist II".

Recordings

Alkan - Etude op.39 no.5
Bellini-Thalberg - A te, o cara (I Puritani)
Bellini-Fumagalli - "Casta Diva"
Bellini-Thalberg - "Casta Diva"
Bellini-Wright - Fantasy on La Sonnambula
Jaell - Rapsodie sur un motif de La Traviata
Jaell - Reminiscenses de Norma
Liapounov - Etude d'execution transcendante op.11 no.5
Liszt - Vallee d'Obermann
Meyerbeer - Priere des matelots, transcription from L'Africaine
Rossini-Thalberg - Fantasy on Mosè in Egitto
Saint-Saens La mort de Thais (extract)
Verdi-Cziffra - Il trovatore
Verdi-Liszt - "Ernani"
Verdi-Martucci - La Forza del Destino
Verdi -Thalberg - Fantasy on La Traviata
Wagner-Liszt - Fantasy on Themes from Rienzi
Wagner-Liszt - Isolde's Liebestod
Wagner-Liszt - Lohengrin's Admonition
Wright - Concerto for solo piano
Wright - Thalbergiana
Wright - Fantasy on Verdis Miserere