Peter Allen (born Harold Levy; September 17, 1920 – October 8, 2016) was a Canadian-born American broadcaster and radio announcer, noted for hosting the Saturday afternoon

radio broadcasts Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...

for some 29 years.

Early years

Allen was born Harold Levy in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada He later moved with his parents to the United States, and grew up in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

, Ohio. Allen was a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

graduate of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Radio and television

Allen began his radio career at the OSU station, WOSU, and also worked for a commercial station in Columbus. The couple then moved to New York City, where Allen began his long tenure as announcer at WQXR radio in 1947. His connection with the Metropolitan Opera began in 1973 when he served as the backup for

Milton Cross Milton John Cross (April 16, 1897 – January 3, 1975) was an American radio announcer famous for his work on the NBC and ABC radio networks. He was best known as the voice of the Metropolitan Opera, hosting its Saturday afternoon radio broadca ...

who had been announcing the Met's Saturday afternoon broadcasts since their inception in 1931. In 1975, after Cross's sudden death, Allen took over as announcer for the Met and continued in the job until 2004. The smooth, intelligent delivery and warmth of Allen's on-air persona endeared him to millions of opera listeners during his long tenure at the Met. Allen retired in May 2004 after 29 seasons and was succeeded by

Margaret Juntwait Margaret Ann Juntwait (March 18, 1957 – June 3, 2015) was an American radio broadcaster, best known as the announcer of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. After thirteen years on the air at WNYC-Radio, she debuted as the Met's announcer o ...

. Allen was also the announcer for ''

Live from the Metropolitan Opera ''Live from the Metropolitan Opera'' (or: ''Live from the Met'') was an American television program that presented performances of complete operas from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network. The ...

'' broadcasts on television. Allen was noted for his ability to

improvise Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

live on air as the occasion required. On the broadcast of January 23, 1988, he extemporized for close to an hour during a performance of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' to cover the long

intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with an entr'acte ( ...

caused by the suicide of

Bantcho Bantchevsky Bantcho Bantchevsky ( bg, Банчо Банчевски; also spelled Banchevsky or Banchevski; May 5, 1906 – January 23, 1988) was a Bulgarian-born American singer, singing coach, and translator. He died by suicide at the Metropolitan Opera ...

in the audience.

Other professional activities

In addition to his live radio career, Allen recorded a popular series of spoken analyses and introductions to the four operas of Wagner's ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...

'' and other operas. Several popular books about opera published for the Metropolitan were also edited and introduced by Allen. He also narrated more than 100 films. He has Narrated the 1962 Audio Fidelity vinyl LP record 'Stereo Spectacular Demonstration & Sound Effects'.

Personal life

At Ohio State, Allen met his future wife, Sylvia, an artist and the sister of the Broadway actor

Paul Lipson Paul R. Lipson (December 23, 1913 - January 3, 1996) was an American stage actor. Early life Lipson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Abraham Lipson and Elizabeth Richtol, and grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He attended The Ohio S ...

. Sylvia Lipson Allen died in 2006. Allen lived in

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village, sometimes shortened to StuyTown, is a large post–World War II private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The complex consists of 110 red brick apartment b ...

in Manhattan, residing in the same apartment for over 70 years. He died there on October 8, 2016, aged 96.

References

*Barron, James
"Giving the Play by Play for Met's Listeners."
''New York Times'' (February 1, 2000) *Wakin, Daniel J

''The New York Times'' (September 29, 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Peter 1920 births 2016 deaths American radio personalities American television personalities Canadian emigrants to the United States Classical music radio presenters Male television personalities Metropolitan Opera people Ohio State University alumni People from Manhattan People from Toronto Radio personalities from Cleveland Radio personalities from New York City United States Navy personnel of World War II