Dr. Burt Allen

Dr. Burt Allen was appointed Coordinator of Music at Northwestern State University in 2008 and has been the Director of Choral Activities since the fall of 1983. His choirs have appeared before the Louisiana Music Educators Convention and the Louisiana All-State Choir on several occasions. They have also appeared three times at the Louisiana ACDA/LMEA Fall Vocal Music Conference and the Northwestern Chamber Choir made their Carnegie Hall solo debut in 1997. Dr. Allen received his Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees from the University of Kansas. After teaching high school in Warren, MI from 1970-73, and also serving as Choral Director of Macomb County Community College from 1971-73, he returned to the University of Kansas as the Assistant Director of Choral Activities from 1973-77. He earned the DMA in Conducting from Kansas in 1977 and accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at William Woods and Westminster College in Fulton, MO.

From 1981 to 1985 he served as one of the conductors of the high school choirs at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, MI. In addition to studying conducting with James Ralston and George Lawner at the University of Kansas, he has also studied under Marcel Couroud at the University of Oklahoma and with Robert Shaw at Emory University. He has appeared as guest conductor for numerous festival and honor choirs including two guest conducting appearances in Carnegie Hall, New York, City. Dr. Allen has written several grants related to the implementation of Electronic Technologies into Music and Music Education. These grants have been responsible for more than a quarter of a million dollars in equipment and supplies for Northwestern. In addition to frequent performances with the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony in major choral-orchestral works, the NSU choirs have also performed on several occasions with the Shreveport Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic.