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Todd Duncan
- Level
- Item
- ID
- Fonds 80; Series 4; Item 3
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Level
- Item
- Fonds
- 80
- Series
- 4
- Item
- 3
- Material Format
- graphic material
- Date
- Mar. 1943
- Physical Description
- 2 photographs : b&w (1 negative) ; 13 x 18 cm and 11 x 9 cm
- Admin History/Bio
- Robert Todd Duncan (b. February 12, 1903) was an American baritone opera singer and actor.
- Todd Duncan was born in Danville, Kentucky in 1903. 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 Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana at the Mecca Temple in New York with the Aeolian Opera, a black opera company.
- Duncan was George Gershwin's personal choice as the first performer of the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess in 1935 and played the role more than 1,800 times. He led the cast during the Washington run of Porgy and Bess at the National Theatre in 1936, a staging which protested the theatre's policy of segregation. Duncan stated that he, "would never play in a theater which barred him from purchasing tickets to certain seats because of his race." Eventually management would give into the demands and allow for the first integrated performance at National Theatre. Duncan was also the first performer for the role of Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars.
- In 1945, he became the first African American to sing with a major opera company, and the first black person to sing in an opera with an otherwise white cast, when he performed the role of Tonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with the New York City Opera. In the same year he sang the role of Escamillo, the bullfighter, in Bizet's Carmen. In 1955, Duncan was the first to record Unchained Melody, a popular song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. The recording was made for the soundtrack of the obscure prison film Unchained. Following Duncan's version, the song went on to become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century.
- Duncan taught voice at Howard University in Washington, D.C. for more than fifty years. While teaching at Howard, he continued touring as a soloist with pianists William Duncan Allen and George Malloy. He had a very successful career as a concert singer with over 2,000 performances in 56 countries. He retired from Howard and opened his own voice studio teaching privately and giving periodic recitals.
- He died of a heart ailment at his home in Washington, D.C., in 1998.
- Scope and Content
- This item is a portrait of Todd Duncan.
- Notes
- This negative has two images on it.
- Subjects
- Actors
- Singers
- Repro Restriction
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions