Roma Duncan
Flute and Piccolo, Alene M. Grossman Chair
Roma Duncan, who joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, performed Vivaldi’s Piccolo Concerto in C major at Sommerfest 2005 and reprised the work in 2007 at subscription concerts conducted by Gilbert Varga. In 2019, she performed the same work in Orchestra concerts with conductor Jane Glover. She has held numerous roles in recent Young People's Concerts, hosting concerts in 2018, performing as a soloist in Kling's The Elephant and the Fly in 2017, and serving as narrator in Kleinsinger’s Tubby the Tuba in 2011. In Sommerfest 2014 she joined Orchestra colleagues for a chamber concert performing Rossini’s Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon and Horn.
Duncan has been a featured soloist with the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, the Lakes Area Music Festical, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Windsor Symphony.
Prior to her Minnesota appointment, Duncan was a member of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Orchestra London in Canada, and the Ann Arbor, Windsor and Warren Symphony Orchestras. Her first professional position, as second flute and piccolo in the Windsor Symphony, kindled her interest in the piccolo and led her to study with Jeffery Zook, piccolo player of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.
Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, Duncan grew up in the province of Newfoundland, where she began playing flute at age 11. At McGill University she earned a bachelor of music performance degree with high distinction in flute; she then earned a master’s degree at the University of Michigan. Duncan’s most influential teachers were Jeffery Zook, Carolyn Christie and Clement Barone. As a student, she participated in various competitions, taking first place in the CIBC National Music Festival, winning the concerto competition of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières and McGill University, and earning the Prix du Club Musical de Québec from l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.
Duncan lives in Edina with her children Mika and Sasha.