Lyric Rhapsody

M. Searle Wright (1918-2004) was a distinguished composer and performer, He is remembered for his musical compositions, which include works for organ, choir, chamber ensemble, and orchestra, and for his improvisations as a church and theater organist. He was born in Susquehanna, Pa., in 1918. After his family moved to Binghamton, he took an interest in theater organs, and as a teenager earned a wage playing the Wurlitzer organ on weekends at the Capitol Theater before the beginning of each movie. He later studied classical organ and church music with T. Tertius Noble at St. Thomas Church in New York City, and with the French composer and organist, Joseph Bonnet. He attended Columbia University and the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, where he joined the faculty in 1947. Searle Wright was a Fellow of the AGO, of Trinity College, London, and of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He was the first American to perform a solo recital at Westminster Abbey in London. From 1952 to 1971, Searle Wright was director of chapel music at St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University in New York City, and from 1969 to 1971 he was president of the AGO. In 1977, he returned to Binghamton to become the first Link Professor of Organ at Binghamton University and organist for the B.C. Pops Orchestra. In addition, he was the organist and choir director at the First Congregational Church for 20 years.