Rudolph Dunbar, the Black conductor and clarinettist from Guyana, was profiled at On An Overgrown Path on April 23, 2007, in a post entitled Berlin Philharmonic's first black conductor. The link was later published in the eNewsletter of the Myrtle Hart Society, which promotes composers and musicians of color. Response to the post was unusually heavy, according to Pliable, and it is now linked to Wikipedia. He adds:
Dunbar's inspirational story needs to reach a wider audience, so I was delighted to find BBC Radio 4 broadcasting the Strange Story of Rudolph Dunbar today (August 7 2007). Here is the BBC blurb:
Strange Story of Rudolph Dunbar
Tuesday 7 August 2007 11:30-12:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Wayne Marshall tells the story of Rudolph Dunbar.
Born into poverty in British Guiana, Dunbar became a well-known jazz and classical clarinettist as well as having a European career as a classical conductor.
Despite becoming the first black man to conduct at the Royal Albert Hall and having conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra just days after the end of the Second World War, Dunbar ended his life in obscurity in Britain, convinced that the BBC in particular had barred his way to greater things.
You can to listen to the BBC programme on demand until August 15 here. Following my article as you listen to the broadcast is really quite interesting.
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