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 of the

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

for some 29 years.

Early years

Allen was born Harold Levy in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio. Allen was a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

graduate of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. 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 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. Allen was also the announcer for '' Live from the Metropolitan Opera'' broadcasts on television. Allen was noted for his ability to

improvise Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

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 List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

's ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' to cover the long

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

caused by the suicide of Bantcho Bantchevsky 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 . The compo ...

'' 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. Sylvia Lipson Allen died in 2006. Allen lived in

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village ( ), colloquially known as StuyTown, is a large post-World War II private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. The complex consists of ...

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 Metropolitan Opera people Ohio State University alumni Mass media people from Manhattan Mass media people from Toronto Radio personalities from Cleveland Radio personalities from New York City United States Navy personnel of World War II