Todd Duncan
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Robert Todd Duncan (1903-02-12-1998-02-28) was an American baritone opera singer and actor.
Duncan was born in Danville, Kentucky. He was George Gershwin's personal choice as the first performed of the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess in 1935. Duncan played the role more than 1,800 times. He was also the first performer for the role of Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars and was a noted concert singer. Duncan taught voice at Howard University in Washington, D.C. for more than fifty years.
He obtained his musical training at Butler University in Indianapolis with a B.A. in music followed by an M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College. In 1933, Duncan debuted in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana at the Mecca Temple in New York with the Aeolian Opera, a black opera company. In 1945, he became the first African American to sing with a major opera company singing the role of Tonio in Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci with the New York City Opera Company. In the same year he sang as Escamillio in Bizet's Carmen.
While teaching at Howard, he continued touring as a soloist with concert pianist William Allen. He a very successful career as a concert singer with over 2,000 performances in fifty-six countries. He retired from Howard university in 1945 and opened his own voice studio teaching privately and giving periodic recitals. In 1978, the Washington Performing Arts Society presented his seventy-fifth birthday gala.
Duncan was awarded the George Peabody Medal of Music from the Peabody Converatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University. Other awards he received include a medal of honor from Haiti, an NAACP award, the Donaldson Award, the New York Drama Critics' Award, and honorary doctorates from Valparaiso University and Butler University.
In 1984, Duncan won the George Peabody Medal from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University, and he was also awarded a medal of honor from Haiti, an NAACP award, the Donaldson Award, the New York Drama Critics' Award for Lost in the Stars, and honorary doctorates from Valparaiso and Butler universities.
Duncan was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. [1]
On 1998-02-28, he died in Washington, DC. at his home of a heart ailment.
References
- The Music of Black Americans: A History. Eileen Southern. W. W. Norton & Company; 3rd edition. ISBN 0393971414
- "Todd Duncan." Newsmakers 1998, Issue 3. Gale Group, 1998.