In 2002, he earned a Ph.D. in Music Theory from McGill University, where he received a Governor General's gold medal for his research and scholarly record.
Wright's nine-movement choral cycle, A Gallery of Song: Spirit of the Land, features settings of youth poetry inspired by the works of artists from Canada's Group of Seven.
Reviewing a March 30, 2024 performance by Luxembourg baritone, David John Pike, Edinburgh critic Bryan Bannatyne-Scott wrote, "We are indebted to James Wright for giving musical life to the sentiments expressed in Beethoven's letters, and his three-song cycle was a revelation.
In a modern idiom but grounded in harmony, and very well set for the baritone voice, the songs, with important parts for all three instruments in the trio, took us into the heart of Beethoven’s essentially hopeless longing".
1, a four-movement work inspired by the beauty of Lake Scattergood in the Outaouais region of southwestern Québec, was recorded by the Andara String Quartet of Montreal.