DuPont has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras in performances across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, under the batons of Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, and Zubin Mehta. His talents have placed him on the German small screen as Fred, der Tanzlehrer, on Unter Uns. However, the intimacy of the solo recital is his preferred métier, and his particular passion is sharing the wealth of songs by Black composers. His solo debut album of these works, entitled The Reaction was recently released on Albany Records. The American Record Guide called it “a special album that brings deserved attention to these fine composers. If you enjoy art song, this is not something to miss.” He has presented a version of this recital at the Sapienza Università di Roma, Salzburger Kammermusik Konzerte, and The University of Portland among others.
DuPont is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards from The University of Miami, Indiana University, Eastman School of Music, Classical Singer Magazine and Diverse Magazine. Previously, he served as an assistant professor and chair of the voice area at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. There, his students won local and regional competitions and benefitted from his implementation of a multicultural guest artist series and advocacy for diverse composers in the curriculum. Recently appointed at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, he has developed and now teaches a course on African American Art Song Composers.
This course aligns with DuPont’s research in Transformative Inclusion in higher music education and care of the professional voice. His publications include “Make the Door Open: Groundbreaking African American Teachers of Singing” in Voice and Speech Review, and a co-authored article, “The Economic Impact of Vocal Attrition in Public School Teachers in Miami-Dade County” for The Laryngoscope with colleagues from the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. He has presented original research in conferences in Europe and North America.
Future engagements include a return to Carnegie Hall as the bass soloist in Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and the title character in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bach in Baltimore. In addition to recitals at St. Peter’s University and the Peabody Institute, he will add the role of Schaunard in La Boheme with the InSeries to his repertoire and return to his favorite role opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Columbus.
