Duncan Abercromby was born near Glasgow and moved as a child to Dornoch in the far north county of Sutherland, Scotland, where his father was employed as a peripatetic school dentist. Around 1964 he took up the clarinet, mastering “Stranger on the Shore”, a career that petered out until some years later. The family moved to Tasmania in 1965 and Duncan took up the clarinet again aged 16. He moved to Sydney in 1969 and boarded in a boys’ hostel in Randwick. He attended Sydney Conservatorium for half a year, but withdrew in order to concentrate on his clarinet practise with teacher Don Westlake.
Duncan auditioned for the National Training Orchestra and was accepted, despite his limited ability to read music, a skill he quickly learnt. He secured augmenting work as second clarinet with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Elizabethan Trust Orchestras in both Sydney and Melbourne, playing for operas and ballets.
In 1971 he sent an audition tape for the second clarinet position in the West Australian Symphony Orchestra which he won and worked sitting next to Jack Harrison until 1979.
In 1979 he was soloist with WASO in the Series 29 concerts. In 1979 he augmented the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s tour to Greece and Israel with the Australian Ballet. He stopped via Perth and learnt, whilst there that he had won the Principal Clarinet position with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra replacing Greg Blackman who had moved to the Adelaide Symphony.
Sylvia Leviston was appointed second clarinet where she played for three years until she retired, when the position was filled by one of his many students Chris Waller. He also taught other professional players including Kate Travers and Nick Harmsen who both still play with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Catherine McCorkill an ex-member of the Australia ensemble and Principal Clarinet with the Sydney Opera House Orchestra.
Duncan retired from TSO in 2011 and Andrew Seymour won the Principal clarinet chair.
Duncan sold his clarinets 6 weeks after he retired and replaced them with a boat, sailing around the Whitsundays and close to his home on the Huon River.
His wife, Stephanie Boys, is a pianist and French horn player and daughter Kirsten played bassoon and is now head of Criminal Defence with Legal Aid in Devonport.
He still lives in the Huon Valley in Tasmania, is an enthusiastic competition Bridge player and intends to write a book one day entitled “100 uses for a clarinet reed that don’t include playing the clarinet”.
