Het is vandaag 25 jaar geleden dat de Amerikaanse bariton Todd Duncan is overleden. Hij creëerde samen met Anne Brown “Porgy and Bess” (zie bovenstaande foto) en in 1945 was hij als Tonio in “I Pagliacci” de eerste zwarte zanger in de 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, in which Duncan also played a minor character.
Ronny De Schepper