IU Musicology PhD student, Stewart Duncan, recently received an Honorable Mention for the North American British Music Studies Association’s Nicholas Temperley Student Paper Prize. His paper, titled “The Role of Choral Music in British Diplomacy, 1934-1939: The British Council and National Identity Abroad” was presented online during the 2020 North American British Music Studies Conference, hosted by Illinois State University in Normal.
Abstract: The British Council, as part of its cultural propaganda programs in the 1930s, leveraged English choirs and choral singing as global symbols of Britain’s timelessness and prestige in the interwar period. By sponsoring choirs synonymous with the strength of England’s musical tradition, the Council sought to construct a diplomatic identity from the same values those choirs articulated for European audiences, in turn making a claim for British geopolitical significance.
Duncan is a doctoral candidate for the Ph.D. in Musicology, with a minor in Choral Conducting. He graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, with a B.A. in Oxbridge Honors Music History. He has studied composition and choral music with Dr. Ian Coleman and Dr. Anthony Maglione at William Jewell, as well as with Dr. Steven Grahl at New College, Oxford. He has garnered international acclaim for his choral music, receiving commissions and premieres from the Choir of St. John’s College, Oxford; the Choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna; the Choir of Worcester College, Oxford; Caritas Chamber Choir of Cantebury, UK; the Concert Choir, Schola Cantorum, and Chamber Orchestra of William Jewell College; and the Choir of Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. Duncan’s work is published exclusively by Alliance Music. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer and running.
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