NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University has named its Choral Rehearsal Room the “Dr. Burt Allen Choral Rehearsal Room.” The designation honors Allen, who served as director of choral activities and professor of music at NSU for 32 years. Allen was named to the CAPA Hall of Fame in 2019. The Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System approved the request to recognize Allen. 

“I am very honored to have the Choral Rehearsal Room at NSU bear my name,” said Allen. “I spent the vast majority of my career in that room, working on great music with wonderful students and colleagues, especially my wife, Christine, who served as our collaborative pianist.” 

Dr. Terrie Sanders, head of the Department of Music at NSU, was recruited by Allen in 1990 as a graduate assistant in the vocal/choral area.  

“As my major professor, he guided me through significant conducting projects and my recital performance document- the capstone of the Master of Music degree at NSU,” said Sanders. “Even after I became his colleague, he remained a trusted faculty mentor. His ability to transition seamlessly from teacher to colleague was remarkable, though it took me quite some time to stop calling him Dr. Allen out of the deep respect I had—and still have—for him. The lessons he taught me will always be cherished.” 

Allen served as director of choral activities and professor of music at Northwestern from 1983-2015. Allen built a strong and responsive choral area that grew from 40 students to more than 150. He served as coordinator and head of the Department of Music, leading the department through National Association of Schools of Music re-accreditation. 

“The choral tradition we established at NSU was important to our students and made significant contributions to our community,” said Allen.  “I consider myself to be very fortunate to have had the opportunity to pursue such a rewarding career in that environment.” 

Allen’s work with the choral program was an important part of the overall growth in the School of Creative and Performing Arts as it achieved a national reputation. 

“Dr. Allen played a pivotal role guiding the School of Creative and Performing Arts’ choral program through its resurgence in the 1980s,” said Scott Burrell, director of the Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts at NSU. “He is certainly most deserving of this recognition as his legacy continues today in the large number of alumni and peers he influenced in his tenure at NSU.” 

Allen was the first Northwestern faculty member to appear in Carnegie Hall, and the NSU Chamber Choir under his direction is the only Northwestern ensemble to appear there in a solo performance.  

“It was important for the students to prepare, study and experience the process of performing and traveling to places they had never experienced,” said Allen. “Much of my own motivation to pursue this type of opportunity stemmed from the first time we took the NSU Chamber Choir to Carnegie Hall in New York City.  The excitement and electricity they exhibited as we traveled into the city from the airport, the attentiveness in rehearsals, the fabulous acoustics and professional nature of rehearsing and performing in Carnegie made a lasting impression on them and on me.” 

Allen was invited to conduct choirs in Canada and Japan and was the first to lead a Northwestern musical ensemble on a European tour. 

“I wanted the students to have that same experience at Carnegie Hall, but in England, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria,” said Allen. “The broadening of their minds, the understanding of the history and culture from which Western Culture is drawn, and the rewards of performing in historic locations such as Canterbury Cathedral, the Bath Abbey, cathedrals in Ely, England, Prague, Bratislava, and St. Stephen’s, the Schonbrunn Palace Chapel, and St. Peter’s in Vienna are the reasons why travel for these students was so important.  Such experiences expand their perspective on the world while it also attracts students from within the university and recruiting students to the university.” 

Allen was selected as one of 15 conductors from a national pool to take part in a seminar with Robert Shaw on score preparation and conducting Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” at Emory University. Allen was an adjudicator for contests and festivals in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, and Kansas.  

Allen was the first CAPA faculty member to successfully author an externally funded grant, followed by several others, totaling more than $350,000 which created the first music computer labs, purchased several Yamaha Disklavier pianos and funded a group piano lab and multimedia capabilities for several classrooms. He started the local tradition of performing the Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols in Natchitoches. Allen was artistic director for the Red River Chorale in Alexandria from 2008-2020.