In June 1990, professor of music and composer Dan Locklair sat down with former AGO president Searle Wright, FAGO, at First Congregational Church in Binghamton,New York to conduct an extensive interview for The American Organist. The transcript of their talk was published in the September 1992 issue. Dan recently unearthed the recording (on two cassettes), transferred the audio to CDs, and sent them to me for the archives at AGO Headquarters.
Since 2018 is the centenary of Searle Wright’s birth, we would like to share the audio of this fascinating interview, in which Wright discusses a wide range of topics, from his early development as both a classical and theater organist, work as a musician in New York City (including the first U.S. performance he gave of Tallis’s Spem in Alium), his work with the Guild, his friendship with Herbert Howells and Leo Sowerby, and the Columbia riots that really brought an end to his work in New York.
The interview is available on the AGO YouTube Channel.