Biographical Information
Members of the Serafin String Quartet

   Kate Ransom, violinist, is a chamber musician and recitalist of distinction, having performed in concert venues throughout the United States, and in Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. She has performed concerts in major chamber music concert halls around the world, including New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and at Lincoln Center; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Teatro Real in Madrid; Wigmore Hall and the Warwick Gallery in London; and in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress.
    Currently, she is violinist with the critically acclaimed Serafin String Quartet (whose appearances include repeat engagements at New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, on the Chamber Music Now series in Philadelphia, and the Festival Concert Series in Delaware). Ms. Ransom also received high praise from New York critics for her debut violin recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1989. She was a founding and six-year member of the Alexander String Quartet, which took first prize at the 1985 London String Quartet Competition.
    Ms. Ransom frequently collaborates with other artists and has presented chamber music concerts with Eliot Fisk (guitar), Jeffrey Solow (cellist), and with members of the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony, Empire Brass Quintet, Tokyo Quartet, and with the Lark, Ciompi, Blair and Vega String Quartets.
    Each year since 1982, Ms. Ransom has been a guest artist at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina, and she has been a guest artist at numerous other summer festivals including Garth Newel, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and Norfolk Festival. In fall 2003 she was appointed Visiting Professor of Violin at University of Delaware. She has been director of The Wilmington Music School in Delaware since 1999.
    Ms. Ransom earned degrees from Yale School of Music (M.M., 1981) and University of Michigan School of Music (B.M., magna cum laude, 1979), and pursued post-graduate chamber music studies at The Juilliard School. Her major teachers were Paul Makanowitzky, Szymon Goldberg and Ivan Galamian. She has been featured on WQXR (New York), Radio London, Radio France, and National Public Radio. Her recording credits include those on Gallo and CRI Records, and, most recently released, a recording of works for oboe and strings, Under A Near Sky, on the Klavier label. Ms. Ransom plays a violin made in 1728 by the Venetian master, Sanctus Serafin.
 
    “Impassioned…the [Ransom/Sirianni] Duo played with considerable flair…a beautifully regulated account of the Brahms…a suitably misty and dark Debussy…Mozart’s Sonata benefited from a clear articulation and unity of purpose.”

   Timothy Schwarz, violinist, bridges the gap between performer and audience with wit, verve and compassion. Praised by the Buffalo Times for his "exemplary technique", Mr. Schwarz’s career has spanned a mixture of prestigious and unusual concert venues.
    Currently violinist with the Serafin String Quartet, Timothy Schwarz previously served for seven years as first violinist of the Chancellor String Quartet. He is also a founding member of the clarinet trio Tripod.
    An active recitalist and soloist, in 1995 Mr. Schwarz was a Gold Medalist "Artistic Ambassador" for the U. S. State Department, and completed a nine-week concert tour of eleven countries in the Middle East and South-East Asia. The tour was hailed by the State Department as "quite arguably the best tour ever sponsored by the United States" and resulted in three return engagements over the next five years. As a passionate advocate of the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Schwarz has performed concerts with musicians in Egypt, Israel, and Syria, which included two specially-commissioned chamber works in these concerts, reflecting connections between Arab and American culture. His contribution to the Peace Process has brought him praise from U.S. Ambassadors in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Tunisia. A tour is currently being planned for 2006 which will include Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan.
    A native of Philadelphia, Timothy Schwarz gave his first public performance at age six and just three years later made his solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as one of the youngest musicians ever to perform with this legendary ensemble. Later, he also won a prestigious Starling International Scholarship to study with Dorothy DeLay at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He won the Gold Medal from the Maryland Council of the Arts and received the Rose and Lou Becker Award for excellence in violin performance while completing the Master of Music degree at Peabody Conservatory (MM 1992).
    Mr. Schwarz’s recordings include An American Affair, (praised by composer John Corigliano as "brilliant", and currently distributed by EMI). Release of a recording with pianist Sandra Rivers will be distributed in 2006 and he has also recorded chamber works by composer Cynthia Folio, on the Naxos label.
    In 1999 Mr. Schwarz was held a one-year teaching position at the University of Delaware, where he discovered his love for education. Under a University Fellowship, he is now completing the Doctorate of Musical Arts at Temple University, where he also teaches, and coaches chamber music. Mr. Schwarz has given master classes at conservatories in Philadelphia, New York, Cairo, Damascus, and Bangkok.

   Ana Tsinadze, Viola, is an active chamber musician, recitalist, soloist and orchestral player. She joined Serafin String Quartet in February 2007, and the quartet is a primary and central part of her varied artistic activities. She is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Temple University, and, in addition to her busy concert schedule, she also maintains a teaching studio and is devoted to the development of young musicians.
    Ms. Tsinadze was born in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and began her music studies there at the age of six (first learning the violin). She benefited from intensive studies at the Zakharia Paliashvili Special Music School for exceptionally gifted children, where she worked with renowned Soviet musicians (including professors Alexander Begalishvili and Boris Chiaureli – desciples of the famed Yamploslki school). Graduating with the Gold Medal in 1987, Ms. Tsinadze performed with various ensembles, and was a prize-winner in numerous solo competitions, winning the Tbilisi Solo Instrumental Competition. These successes and training experiences established her resolve to choose music over her other passion, biology.
    After entering Tbilisi State Conservatory, Ms. Tsinadze continued with viola studies from the celebrated Soviet Georgian pedagogue, Shota Shanidze. During the conservatory years (1987-93) she took another major prize, and performed with the State Symphony Orchestra (a viola transcription of Saent-Saens cello concerto). By 1989, Ms. Tsinadze had been offered assistant principal positions with the State Symphony Orchestra and the Tbilisi Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, both of which toured extensively throughout the world. In 1994, she accepted a full teaching position at the Tbilisi State Conservatory.
    Ms. Tsinadze left her native country a year later due to the difficult economic situation in the Republic of Georgia, and moved to the United States to join the Honors String Quartet at Rowan University (NJ). Under the tutelage of Dr. Bertram Greenspan, this award-winning quartet performed extensively in the tri-state area. Her American education includes a Master of Music degree from Louisiana State University, where she studied with Dr. Jerzy Kosmala. Ms. Tsinadze plays a late 19th Century viola of unknown origins, possibly Russian-made.

   Lawrence Stomberg, cellist, enjoys a wide ranging career as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. As a student of Shirley Trepel at Rice University, he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree, and continued his studies with Timothy Eddy, receiving his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician at numerous music festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Festival, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, and is currently on the cello faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. A founding member of numerous chamber ensembles, including the piano trios Trilogy and the Johannes Trio as well as the mixed ensemble Brightmusic, he is active as soloist and chamber musician across the country.
    In October of 1999, he made his New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, a performance that was hailed in Strings Magazine for its "style and elegance" and "lyrical expressiveness". As a committed performer of contemporary music, Stomberg has been involved with world premiere concerts at New York's Miller Theater and Merkin Hall, and, in 2000, released a debut compact disc of solo contemporary music entitled The American Cello. He has recently he premiered commissioned works by American composers Roger Zahab and Paul Siskind. He served as Assistant Principal Cellist in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic from 2002 until 2004, after four years as a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic. An active and dedicated pedagogue, Stomberg served on the faculties at Truman State University in Missouri and Oklahoma State University before joining the music faculty at the University of Delaware in 2004. He lives in Delaware with his wife, cellist Jennifer Crowell Stomberg, and their three children.

John Dee, Oboe, John Dee is the Professor of Oboe Studies and the Bill A. Nugent Endowed Professor of Music Performance at the University of Illinois. He was Principal Oboe of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and Florida Grand Opera Orchestra from 1981-2004 and Professor of Oboe Studies at the Harid Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton from 1992-2004. Mr. Dee was Professor of Oboe at the University of Miami from 1986-1998, and Principal Oboe of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa from 1978-1981. He was also Principal Oboe the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
    As Principal Oboe of the Florida Philharmonic, he was featured in the Alamo weekly national radio broadcasts on over 140 radio stations and his solo performances of the Mozart and Strauss Concertos were met with critical acclaim. The Miami Herald wrote, “His shading and inflection were worthy of major recording artists who trot the globe.” His third solo CD recording,“Under a Near Sky,” was released internationally by Klavier Records featuring the Mozart and Krommer Oboe Quartets, and a world premier written for him by Clark McAlister for oboe, guitar and string quartet. The International Double Reed Society CD critic wrote, ”I was delighted to encounter Robert Bloom’s recording Robert Sprenkle’s, and later John Mack’s version, but even happier to recommend John Dee’s interpretation. John Dee has that not-too-bright, not-too-dark, just right, liquid, melting tone that becomes a malleable vehicle for discourse, while retaining its own timbral beauty.” He has recorded on the Klavier, Altarus, Spectrum, CDS, Harmonia Mundi, CBS Masterworks and Philips record labels.
    Mr. Dee has performed and recorded with the Chicago Symphony with conductors, Carlo Maria Guilini, James Levine, Claudio Abbado, and Sir Georg Solti and served as Principal Oboe of the Ravinia Festival Orchestra for many years with Eric Kunzel. He has performed and taught at the Sewanee Music Festival, the Highlands Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina and the Monadnock Music Festival in New Hampshire. He has performed and recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and has traveled to Mexico with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In addition to performing with Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras in various opera productions and solo performances, he performed with Jose Carreras and the National Symphony in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In Italy, he was guest soloist with the I Solisti Aquilani String Orchestra, and in Japan he assisted the Yamaha Corporation in the development of their professional model oboe.
    This summer he performed with Sinfonia da Camara in Beijing and Shanghai, China taught and played in Seoul and Buson, Korea in 2006 with the “IQ” Woodwind Quartet and spent the 2006 and 2007 summers working in Spain with the University of Illinois Burgos Chamber Music Festival.
    Mr. Dee is featured on the internationally syndicated television show, ”The Joy of Music,” with organist and host Diane Bish. His performances were recorded in Vancouver and Victoria B.C., throughout Alaska, and in California at Saint Mary’s Cathedral and the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Seven one-hour television shows are to be released internationally featuring John as oboe soloist.
    Throughout his thirty years in music performance, John has worked with and/or recorded with many artists including: Renee Fleming,Dawn Upshaw, Kiri TeKanawa, Cecilia Bartoli, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Yahudi Mehnuin, Isaac Stern, Nathan Milstein, Uto Ugi, Isaac Perlman, Pinkhas Zuckerman, Yo-Yo-Ma, Lynn Harrell, Janos Starker, Mistlav Rostropovich, the Alexander, Miami, Ying and Lark string quartets, Van Cliburn, Martha Argarich, Andre Watts, Emanual Axe, Yefim Bronfman, Julio Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Linda Ronstad, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Nelson Riddle, Peter Nero, , Doc Severensen, Wynton Marsalis and Ella Fitzgerald. He has received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the National Endowment for the Arts several times and appears in the “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.” He has been a frequent guest of NPR’s “Performance Today,” Adelphia and Comcast Television in performances, interviews and as an advocate for the Arts.
    Mr. Dee’s oboe students have won oboe and English horn positions with such orchestras as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bangkok Philharmonic, Vera Cruz Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Portland Opera and Ballet Orchestras, Tucson Symphony and Ashville Symphony Orchestras.

Marianne Gythfeldt, Clarinet, a native of Norway, has distinguished herself as an adventurous performer and teacher of clarinet. She earned the position of Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of Delaware after fifteen years of professional life in New York City's finest chamber ensembles, orchestras, and educational institutions. Early clarinet studies began in the Oslo community bands, and continued in the All-State bands and orchestras of New Jersey. Ms. Gythfeldt graduated from the Eastman School of Music and SUNY at Stony Brook with the Bachelor and Masters degrees, as a student of Stanley Hasty and Charles Neidich, and worked with electro-acoustic composers as a Doctoral student at IRCAM in Paris.
    Marianne Gythfeldt's musical life includes all aspects of clarinet performance. She has become known as a diverse and flexible musician, equally at-home in traditional, contemporary and alternative/cross-over genres. She is the clarinetist of Zephyros Winds and Del'Arte Woodwind Quintet, and performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Critics have noted her exceptional ability with contemporary technique, and as a clarinetist who sings through the instrument.
    Recent performances have included a solo appearance at the 2005 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, a tour to Europe with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and multi-media productions of Frank Zappa and Paquito D'Rivera's music at the Bergen Festival in Norway and Bremen Festival in Germany. Marianne appears in concert at summer festivals across the country, including Tanglewood, Chamber Music Northwest, June in Buffalo, Cooperstown Music Festival, and Skaneateles festival in New York State, and has made several appearances at the Mt. Desert Island Chamber Music Festival in Maine. Ms. Gythfeldt is also on the faculty of the Chamber Music Festival and Composer's Forum of the East, which takes place at Bennington College every summer.
    Ms. Gythfeldt can be heard on recordings by CBS Masterworks, CRI, Albany, and Koch. She recorded two solo clarinet pieces by Robert Morris, on Albany Records, which was released in 2005. In addition to performing and teaching, Ms. Gythfeldt raises money through grant-writing for special projects. The Koch recording of Feldman's works, performed by New Millennium Ensemble was one such project, and she is currently working on a project with Zephyros Winds to record the unrecorded chamber pieces of Wolfgang Rihm.

Robert Maggio, , The music of Robert Maggio has been called "lyrical, passionate, melodic, and rhythmically charged." Hailed as a composer of music that is “smart, vital, and inventive” (Philadelphia Inquirer), Maggio has created a substantial body of works in nearly every genre, each creating a unique connection between the composer’s “wondrously eclectic vocabulary” (New York Times) and the demands of a diverse body of commissions. His orchestral music has been performed by the Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Atlanta and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award. Current commissions include an orchestral work to celebrate Longwood Garden's Centennial celebration in July 2006 and a work for the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus to celebrate their 25th Anniversary Season. Robert is a Professor of Music Theory and Composition in the School of Music at West Chester University. A graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, he lives in Lambertville with his partner, the artist Tony LaSalle, and their daughter Annamaria.

Douglas Mapp, double, is a graduate of the University of the Arts and Temple University. He is principal bassist with the Reading Symphony, Kennett Square Symphony and Opera Delaware. He is a member of the Delaware Symphony and regularly performs with the Northeastern Philharmonic, the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philly Pops, and Harrisburg Symphony. Mr. Mapp has performed as a substitute musician with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia, New York, and on a recent European tour. He has performed as soloist with the Reading Symphony and the Newark Symphony. Mr. Mapp has also performed with the Mendelssohn String Quartet and the SEM Ensemble. As a jazz performer he has performed with artists such as Ernie Watts, Gino Vanelli, Doc Severenson, Donald Byrd, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Denis DiBlasio, Vic Damone, Rosemary Clooney, and Billy Childs. Mr. Mapp is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at Rowan University.

Richard Prior, Composer & Conductor, Composer and conductor Richard Prior’s musical training began in his native England, where he received a B.A. from Leeds University and a D.M.A in both conducting and composition from Nottingham University. His performances have been reviewed in the professional press as having "stirring conviction," "precision" and "stylishness and flexibility" while another article cited the "meteoric rise" of ensembles under his direction. Dr. Prior's principal teachers and mentors include Sir Simon Rattle, William LaRue Jones, James Fulkerson and Philip Wilby.
    Previous faculty appointments include Oklahoma State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Davidson College, Franklin & Marshall College and St. Catherine’s College (Oxford University), where he was the 1997 Visiting Fellow-in-Music. Prior was a selected participant in the 2001 Pierre Boulez Professional Training Workshop at Carnegie Hall, NY and the 2002 Conductors’ Workshop of America; he was the recipient of the OSU 2003 Wise-Diggs-Berry Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and the 2004 Golden Torch Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Leadership and Service.
    Guest appearances include concerts with the Charlotte Symphony, the New Orleans Civic Symphony, and the Tulsa Signature Symphony. In demand as an adjudicator and clinician, Prior has conducted numerous honor orchestras and at festivals and conventions, including the Midwest Convention of 2003. Most recently, he was invited to serve as conductor of the 2006 Delaware All-State Orchestra. He holds professional memberships in the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Conductors Guild, BMI, GMEA, MENC, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Kappa Kappa Psi. Prior is Past President of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), South Central Division.
    Highly active as a composer, Prior’s music has been performed, recorded and broadcast widely in Europe and throughout North America, with several works featured at national conventions and international festivals. He served as the composer-in-residence for the 2003 Association for Music in International Schools Festival (AMIS) at the Hague, in the Netherlands; his work for orchestra Cimarron Portrait was premiered at the 2003 Midwest Convention and his Concertino for Horn and Wind Ensemble was featured at the 2004 regional CBDNA conference in Atlanta with horn virtuoso Eric Ruske.
    Prior joined the faculty of Emory University in 2004 as Director of Orchestral Studies. He conducts the University Symphony Orchestra and serves as Coordinator of the Emory Chamber Music Program; he is also the founder and conductor of the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra.

    Vega String Quartet, , Quartet in Residence at Emory University, the Vega String Quartet is on the cutting edge of the new generation of chamber music ensembles. After the Vega made its Lincoln Center debut in 2001 the New York Times raved "playing that had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along…the musicians took real risks in their music making…" and the Los Angles Times praised their "Triumphant L.A. Debut” in 2002. Other recent engagements include performances in Paris, Cologne, Mexico City, New York, Tokyo, Vancouver and Atlanta. They have appeared at numerous music festivals including Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, Highlands-Cashiers, Musicorda, Kingston, and SummerFest La Jolla among others. They were the quartet-in-residence at the Van Cliburn Institute and on the artist roster of Carnegie Hall’s New York City Neighborhood Concert series, and in 2003-04 they joined the Community Concerts Association touring ensembles as the only string quartet on their roster. The quartet’s live broadcast credits include NPR’s Performance Today (USA), the National Radio of China, Shanghai TV, Radio France, France Musiques, and the National Radio of the Czech Republic. In addition, they were visiting Artists-in-Residence at Emory University in Atlanta performing the complete Cycle of Beethoven Quartets and playing and teaching throughout the community. The 2004-05 season included debut tours of Korea and Japan as well as performances at New York’s Bargemusic series and at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. Starting in September of 2006, the Vega Quartet is the first ever full-time Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Their main concert project of the 06-07 season is "Bach and Bartok" - the complete six string quartets by Bela Bartok combined with the 6 solo violin Sonatas and Partitas and 6 cello Suites by J.S.Bach will be played in six concerts throughout the season. They will also appear at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall again in February of 2007, and make their Zankel Hall debut with Richard Stoltzman.
    The Vega Quartet has won numerous international competitions including four of the top six prizes at the 1999 Bordeaux String Quartet Competition (including the international music critics’ prize), the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Carmel Chamber Music Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition.
    The members of the quartet have collaborated with some of the world’s finest musicians including Yehudi Menuhin, William Preucil, Sarah Chang, Richard Stoltzman, Robert McDuffie, Eliot Fisk, Christopher O’Riley, the Ying Quartet and the St. Petersburg Quartet. Visit the Vera String Quartet online at www.vega4tet.com.

Maurice Wright, composer, Described by the New Grove Dictionary as "extremely prolific," Maurice Wright's work is a synthesis of his diverse interests: vocal and instrumental music (new and old); technology and acoustics; and drama and film. Composer and critic Kyle Gann, writes: “Wright’s ideas – thoughtful, gritty, and quick to break into fantasy – develop within a well-calculated symmetry. To follow this interplay of textures as they shift, dart away, and return, is to hear the qualities that make Wright one of the most subtle and eloquent of recent composers.”
    Outstanding ensembles and soloists, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Emerson String Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, the Riverside Symphony, and the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, have commissioned work from Wright, who has been honored with awards from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fromm Music Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Recordings on New World, Innova and CRI include his compositions.
    Wright is founder and curator of the electroacoustic music and video series CYBERSOUNDS, which presents concerts of media compositions old and new At Temple University’s Rock Hall. He collaborates with video artist Peter d’Agostino, providing music and sound designs for projects including Y00 (YearZEROZERO), Between Earth & Sky, and @Silicon.Valley. Working with the outstanding American soprano, Laura Heimes, Wright is creating a series of settings of the poems of William F. Van Wert (1945-2003) whose texts constitute a large portion of The Lyric’s Tale, "an entertainment" for baritone voice, actress, chamber orchestra and projected video, that plays themes of religion, existentialism and science against one another in a fast-paced, 45 minute work featuring dozens of characters, including Galileo, Sigmund Freud and Martin Luther.
    Increasingly interested in the folk music of Scotland and its emigration to the American Applachians, Wright has composed a number of works based on this music: Fantasy Meditation on “Kingsfold”, Song Cycle (“Crow, Black Chicken”) Plaints and Airs and Variations on “Adieu, Dundee.” Since 1981 Wright has contributed to the solo repertoire of percussionists, with Marimba Music, Set-up Music, Movement in Time, Grand Duo, and Concertpiece for Marimba and Orchestra.
    Maurice Wright was born in 1949 in Front Royal, Virginia, a small town situated between the forks of the Shenandoah River and near the Blue Ridge Mountains; he began composing at age 10. He attended Duke University and Columbia University, where he explored diverse interests that included music composition, computer science and film, receiving a doctoral degree in 1988.
    Wright was introduced to the craft and technology of film when he met Director Gene Searchinger in 1976 and contributed an electronic score for an unusual film about recycled aluminum, "Metallic Tales: The Social Life of a Non-Ferrous Metal," which received a Golden Eagle Award. Over the next two decades Wright continued to work with Searchinger, most recently contributing music and special sound for the three-program series about linguistics, "The Human Language," broadcast in the United States and Japan.
    His interests in image were incorporated into two electronic operas: The Trojan Conflict (1989), and Dr. Franklin, an opera about Benjamin Franklin, produced in Philadelphia in 1990 as part of the Electrical Matter Festival. In both works a video screen was embedded in the set, and short scenes written and directed by Wright were integrated into the operatic fabric. Since then he has experimented with visualization of musical sound and with digital animation, making his first professional presentation as an animator in March, 1996. Shortly thereafter he was commissioned by the Network for New Music to create a work for computer animation and computer sound for their 1996-1997 season in Philadelphia. The resulting work, "Taylor Series," was described in the Philadelphia Inquirer as "visionary" and "lyric." Recent work, which he calls “sound animation” has been seen and heard in festivals in San Diego, Miami, Eugene (Oregon), Richmond (Virginia), DeKalb (Illinois), Philadelphia, Beijing and the United Kingdom.
    Wright is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Music Composition at Temple University's Boyer College Of Music and Dance, where he co-founded the Interactive Arts and Technology Laboratory and the Presser Center for Creative Music Technology. He served as Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Financial Aid and Technology in 2004, and is now Director of Graduate Studies and Coordinator of the Music Composition Programs at Temple. In 2006 he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. He recently served as Composer in Residence at the Center for Advanced Music at Istanbul Technical University, and will teach electroacoustic music at the University of Pennsylvania as Visiting Professor for the Fall Term, 2006.