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By Vivien Schweitzer
15 Feb 2007
The body of conductor Gordon Wright, 72, was discovered on the front porch of his cabin near Anchorage, Alaska, last night, reports the Anchorage Daily News. He reportedly died from natural causes.
Wright, the founder and longtime conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, lived alone in a one-room cabin off the power grid and inaccessible by road. He was scheduled to meet composer John Luther Adams (who is in Anchorage for the premiere of a new work this weekend) on Wednesday afternoon. Adams raised the alarm when Wright missed the appointment, according to the Daily News.
Wright was born in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He came to Fairbanks and founded the orchestra there in 1969. During his tenure, which concluded in 1989, he led the local premieres of many symphonic works and championed music by Alaskan composers.
After retirement he moved to his cabin, occasionally working as a guest conductor outside Alaska and sometimes leading the Anchorage Civic Orchestra.
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