Biography

    Duncan Stenhouse is a Canadian-British bass and composer currently completing his Advanced Diploma in Opera at the Royal Academy of Music where he studies with Raymond Connell and Iain Ledingham. Duncan’s current year of studies are being supported by Help Musicians as a recipient of their 2023/24 Sybil Tutton Opera Award. Duncan studied at Memorial School of Music for his Undergraduate Degree in Voice Performance under the tutelage of Caroline Schiller where he performed a myriad of roles including The Caterpillar in Will Tod’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Uberto in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona. In 2019 he performed in the Halifax Summer Opera Festival as both Crespel in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte a role in which Daphna Levit from Opera Canada stated that “his voice is outstanding”, and that he “exhibited the stern regal posture befitting the role.” 

    In 2020, Duncan commenced his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in the Master of Music program in Vocal Performance and has continued his studies in the Advanced Diploma of Opera. During his time at the Academy, Duncan has been cast as Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spinelloccio and Notaio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Keeper of the Madhouse in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Norton in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio. He has also appeared as il Commendatore, John Claggart, Olin Blitch, and Count Walter in Royal Academy Opera scenes shows and will be performing the role of Superintendent Budd in Britten’s Albert Herring in the Winter. Duncan debuted as an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera in 2021 performing in the chorus of their award winning production of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and returned the following year in the chorus of Dvorák’s Rusalka. Most recently he has also sung in the chorus of Opera Holland Park’s production of Puccini’s La bohème.
   Duncan’s masters dissertation Songs of the Great White North: Exploring Canada’s Peoples through Art Song focuses on the history of Canadian song, a special topic for Duncan as both a performer and composer. He is currently working on an accompanying song set featuring classical arrangements of folk songs from each Province and Territory of Canada and recently gave a lecture on his research at the 20th Newfound Music Festival at Memorial University where he also held multiple masterclasses and voice lessons for the vocal students.