Frank Joseph Henry Wright (born Smeaton, Victoria, 1901; died 16 November 1970), was a composer, music educator, conductor, publisher, and cornet player. He was the conductor of the City of Ballarat Brass Band and Soldiers’ Memorial Brass Band. He was also Australian Cornet Solo Champion. As cornet soloist he went to England in 1933, where he became a member of the famous St. Hilda Brass Band. In 1935 he was appointed director of the London County Council’s Parks Department. In this capacity he organized outdoor concerts, theatre performances, events in London’s parks and was the founder of the open-air symphony concerts at Kenwood Lakeside Park, later in Holland Park and finally in the Crystal Palace Bowl. He was the initiator of the construction of various pavilions and kiosks in the London parks.
From 1935 he was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Trinity College of Music in London. He was also editor of the magazine The Conductor.
As a composer, he wrote more than 100 works, mostly for military bands and brass bands. The brass band movement in England owes much to his organisational assistance.
The Frank Wright Medal is awarded to a person in recognition for their significant contribution to the Victorian Banding movement. The award is open to banding administrators, musicians, conductors and drum majors.
Previous Frank Wright Medal winners
2015 – David Hague
2016 – Jane Battersby & Peter Battersby
2017 – Robert Pattie
2018 – Mark Ford
2019 – Doug Morison
2020 – Cancelled
