Marion and Clarissa Cumbo photographs

1890-1989

The original biographical sketch was written by Christopher Stahling and Miranda-Tarisa Mims in 2014, with some additional writing by Emily P. Dunne in 2023.

Marion Warren Cumbo (1899-1990) and Clarissa Wilhelmina Burton, later Cumbo (1903-1988), were Black musicians and art patrons in New York City. The couple were leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance and continued to support musicians into the 1980s. Clarissa Cumbo became a significant arts organizer in the 1960s and 1970s, and founded two non-profits to encourage and support Black musicians. She also served on the board of many arts organizations. Marion Cumbo and Clarissa Burton married in 1924 and had a son, William Burton Cumbo, in 1926.

Marion Cumbo was born in New York in 1899, and grew up in an orphanage in the Bronx with his brother Earl. While studying in New York City public schools, Marion Cumbo's musical talent was recognized. Cumbo began studying classical cello at the Martin-Smith School of Music, and during this time he met his mentor, performer Minnie Brown. While studying at the Institute of Musical Art (later the Juilliard School of Music), Cumbo supported himself by performing live concerts in New York City, particularly churches in Harlem. In addition to performing as a soloist, Cumbo played with other musicians and orchestras, including Marion Anderson and Nat King Cole, the New York Chamber Orchestra, the Cosmopolitan Little Symphony, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and the Harlem Philharmonic Orchestra. Marion also ran a piano tuning business, and would tune pianos at major concert halls and community spaces, including the piano in the listening room of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Clarissa Wilhelmina Burton was born in Roseau, Dominica in 1903 to Davies Charles Burton and Jane Elizabeth Pinard Burton. Her father was a cathedral organist and choir director. Clarissa and her family moved to New York City in 1917 to further her music career. Trained as an opera singer and pianist, Clarissa toured throughout the 1920s, notably with Josephine Baker in The Chocolate Dandies Revue. In 1946, Clarissa joined her husband Marion as a member of the short-lived group called the State Orchestra, an interracial group of both men and women musicians. Later in her career, Clarissa focused on organizing funding and support for Black musicians. Throughout the 1950s, she participated in and organized several ensembles of Black performers, including the Community Friends of Music.

In the 1960s, Clarissa co-organized a charity called Friends of the Symphony of the New World. The charity was created to support the first racially integrated symphony orchestra in the United States, Symphony of the New World. After founding the charity, Clarissa Cumbo became very involved in the symphony, even joining as a board member. Marion Cumbo also played in the cello section of the orchestra. Once securing support for the Symphony of the New World, Clarissa and Marion Cumbo founded a non-profit organization called Triad Presentations in 1970, to aid and encourage Black musicians and artists, which included an annual concert held in Alice Tully Hall.

Both died in New York, Clarissa Cumbo in 1988, and Marion Cumbo in 1990.