Thursday, June 25, 2009

Betty Allen

The mezzo-soprano Betty Allen has died, age 82. A contemporary and college classmate of Leontyne Price's, and a member of the same generation of outstanding African American opera singers, she sang at NYCO, the Met, and other companies; she spent 40 years on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. Read the Times obituary here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for making note of Betty's extraordinary life and musical career. She, and a number of other wonderful singers deserve to be documented in word and sound - many ears were graced by her talent. I was blessed to study with her, live with her familly, and work with her for a number of years. Many lessons, musical and otherwise were learned at her side. May she continue to impact people in positive ways, and my thoughts are with her family always.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Thank you for the fond memories and comments about her!