Todd Duncan

Todd Duncan was one of the groundbreaking figures in American art song, as the first black performer to join the New York City Opera, and also the original Porgy in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Born Robert Todd Duncan in Danville, KY, he earned a B.A. from Butler University in Indianapolis, and an M.A. from Teacher College at Columbia University, before joining the music department faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He began his operatic career in 1934 with a production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with the Aeolian Opera, and sang with various black o...