Dunbar, W. Rudolph
Dunbar, W. Rudolph
Dunbar, W. Rudolph, black flutist, conductor, teacher, and writer; b. Nabaclis, British Guiana, April 5, 1907; d. London, June 10, 1988. He was clarinetist in the British Guiana Militia Band (1916–19), then went to the U.S., where he studied clarinet, piano, and composition at the Inst. of Musical Art in N.Y. (graduated, 1924). He pursued further training in Paris with Louis Cahuzac, Gaubert, and Vidal, and in Vienna with Weingartner. In 1931 he settled in London, becoming the first black musician to conduct a band on the BBC (1934) and with the London Phil. (April 26, 1942). While working as a newspaper correspondent with the Allies in France, he appeared as conductor with the Pasdeloup Orch. in Paris (Nov. 18, 1944); in 1945 he conducted the Berlin Phil. He subsequently devoted himself mainly to the cause of racial justice and wrote extensively on international affairs. In 1964 he became the first black musician to conduct in the Soviet Union.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire