Biography
Duncan Stenhouse is a bass and composer named as one of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “30 hot classical musicians under 30” in 2024. Originally born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Duncan has lived between Calgary, St. John’s, London, and now, Toronto. He is a citizen of Canada, the UK, and Ireland, and has performed with companies throughout the UK, Canada, and the US.
In the 2024/25 season, Duncan debuted with Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio singing the roles of The High Priest of Baal in Verdi’s Nabucco, First Apprentice in Berg’s Wozzeck, and Zaretsky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. He also covered the roles of The Bonze in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the Assistant to Déscartes in Bilodeau & Bouchard’s La Reine-Garçon, and Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
In the summer of 2025 Duncan sang with the Glimmerglass Festival in the chorus of Puccini’s Tosca. He also covered the roles of Angelotti in Tosca as well as Jules, Bob, Charles, and the Boatman in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. In the 2025/26 season at the Canadian Opera, Duncan will be singing the role of Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto, as well as Basilio in the Young Artist show of Rossini’s il barbiere di Siviglia. He will also cover the roles of the Duke of Verona in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Brühlmann in Massenet’s Werther, as well as role studying Frère Laurent, Sparafucile, Duke Bluebeard, and continuing his role study of Gounod’s Méphistophélès.
Before moving to Toronto to join COC’s Ensemble Studio, Duncan was a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He studied under Raymond Connell and Iain Ledingham in both the Master of Music in Vocal Performance and the Advanced Operatic Diploma. While at the Academy, Duncan sang as Bottom in the school’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spinelloccio and Notaio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, the Keeper of the Madhouse in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Norton in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio, and Superintendent Budd in Britten’s Albert Herring. He also sang as Il Commendatore, John Claggart, Olin Blitch, and Count Walter in the school’s scenes shows.
Outside of the Academy, Duncan has sung the roles of Colline in Puccini’s La bohème for Longborough Festival Opera and Zaccaria in Uncovered Opera’s concert performance of Verdi’s Nabucco. He sang as an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera for two summers, performing in the chorus and covering the roles of Waiter 3 and Boots in their award winning production of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Dvorák’s Rusalka. Duncan has also sung in the chorus of Puccini’s La bohème and Tosca with Opera Holland Park and Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Hurn Court Opera, where he also covered the role of Il Commendatore.
Duncan first studied at Memorial School of Music and received a Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Voice Performance with a minor in Composition under the tutelage of Caroline Schiller, Eldon Murray, Andrew Staniland, and Clark Ross. He performed in a myriad of concerts, scenes shows, and operas at the school including the role of The Caterpillar in Will Todd’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Duncan also performed in the Halifax Summer Opera Festival during this time, 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.”
Duncan has had multiple compositions debuted at Memorial University and, in his final year of study, he gave a concert of his works performed in collaboration with contemporary ballet dancers from Dance Studio East. Duncan’s ambitions as a composer include writing full scale operas, song cycles, and orchestral works. He enjoys working with a mixture of mediums in his pieces and thoroughly loves when music merges with other artistic fields such as painting, poetry, dance, drama, and cinematography.
In competition, Duncan has won the Christina and Louis Quilico Competition at the Canadian Opera Company, the Newfoundland Provincial Music Festival, the Sarah Harrison Prize at the Hurn Court Opera Singer of the Year Competition, and the Sybil Tutton Opera Award from Help Musicians. He placed 3rd at the 50th FCMF Canadian National Music Festival, was a finalist at the Emmy Destinn Young Singers Competition for Czech repertoire. He also placed 3rd at Canadian Opera Company’s 10th Centre Stage Competition, where it was said that he sang with “a rich sound and an easy presence” and that “his voice is a true bass, sturdy and warm in timbre, with the requisite gravitas to do justice to the piece.”
Academic research, writing, and teaching are also very important to Duncan. In 2019, he gave a lecture at Memorial University’s Newfound Music Festival on Scriabin’s use of harmony in relation to the composers synesthesia. The following year, Duncan created a lecture recital on Schubert’s Schwanengesang at the Royal Academy of Music where he went on to complete his dissertation: Songs of the Great White North: Exploring Canada’s Peoples through Art Song in 2022. This research, along with his graduating recital Storytellin’, earned Duncan a distinction for his MMus degree and an honourary Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music. His dissertation research focuses on the history of both traditional and classical Canadian song, a special topic for Duncan as a performer, composer, and eighth generation Canadian. He gave a lecture on his research at the 20th Newfound Music Festival, where he also held multiple masterclasses and voice lessons for the vocal students at the university.
Duncan also has a passion for Russian and Czech repertoire, having worked extensively with Lada Valešová at the Royal Academy of Music, Jarmila Karasová with the Emmy Destinn Foundation, and Ilana Zarankin at the Canadian Opera Company. He also continues to work with the Emmy Destinn foundation in London and has performed in their concert celebration of Dvořák, Smetena, and Janáček.