[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 7, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF ELIZABETH LOUISE ALLEN, AN AMERICAN MEZZO-
       SOPRANO AND HARLEM SCHOOL OF THE ARTS' PRESIDENT EMERITUS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 7, 2009

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in memoriam of my dear friend 
Elizabeth Louise Allen, who departed this life peacefully on Monday, 
June 22, 2009. Known to all of us as, Betty Lou Allen, she had been a 
guiding force at The Harlem School of the Arts since she became 
Executive Director, and eventually President after Dorothy Maynor, the 
school's founder, retired in 1979.
  Betty Lou was born on March 17, 1927, in Campbell, Ohio, near 
Youngstown. Her father worked in the steel mills; her mother had a 
thriving business taking in laundry. Betty grew up in a neighborhood 
which was mostly made up of Sicilian and Greek families, and where she 
was introduced to the opera and its music. From the neighbors' windows, 
she could hear the broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera house every 
Saturday from their radios.
  Betty lost her mother to lung cancer when she was 12 years old. After 
many turbulent years, that began with her father, and later in foster 
homes, where she was treated badly and unfairly, Betty moved into the 
Youngstown Y.W.C.A. when she was 16 years old. She supported herself 
cleaning houses, excelled in Latin and German languages in high school, 
and entered Wilberforce College in Wilberforce, Ohio, on a scholarship 
(A historically black institution, it is now Wilberforce University).
  At Wilberforce, Ms. Allen met Theodor Heimann, a former Berlin Opera 
tenor who taught German and voice there and encouraged her to sing. 
Soprano Leontyne Price was also a classmate at Wilberforce. Betty went 
on to earn a scholarship to what was then the Hartford School of Music 
in Connecticut.
  In the early 1950s, Ms. Allen studied at Tanglewood, where Leonard 
Bernstein chose her to be the mezzo-soprano soloist in his Symphony No. 
1 (``Jeremiah''); she was later a frequent soloist with Mr. Bernstein 
and the New York Philharmonic. Betty made her New York recital debut at 
Town Hall in 1958 in a program that included Brahms and Faure.
  Elizabeth ``Betty Lou'' Allen was part of the first great wave of 
African-American singers to appear on the world's premier stages in the 
postwar years. Active from the 1950s to the 1970s, she performed with 
the New York City Opera; the Metropolitan Opera; and the opera 
companies of Houston, Boston, San Francisco, and Santa Fe. In 1954 Ms. 
Allen made her City Opera debut as Queenie in ``Show Boat,'' by Jerome 
Kern and in 1964, she made her formal Opera debut at the Teatro Colon 
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, followed by countless appearances 
worldwide.
  Betty Allen sang the role of Begonia in the City Opera production of 
Hans Werner Henze's comic opera ``The Young Lord,'' conducted by Sarah 
Caldwell in 1973. In reviewing the production of ``The Young Lord,'' 
New York Times' Harold C. Schonberg wrote of Ms. Allen's on-stage 
performance: ``When she was onstage everything came to life, and 
everything around her was dimmed.''
  Ms. Allen, who also toured as a recitalist, was known for her close 
association with the American composers Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem and 
David Diamond. At her death, she was on the faculty of the Manhattan 
School of Music, where she had taught since 1969. She was also the 
president emeritus and a former executive director of the Harlem School 
of the Arts.
  With the Met, Ms. Allen sang the role of Commere in Mr. Thomson's 
``Four Saints in Three Acts'' in 1973; she later participated in the 
first complete recording of the work. Elsewhere, her roles included 
Teresa in ``La Sonnambula,'' by Bellini; Jocasta in Stravinsky's 
``Oedipus Rex''; Monisha in Scott Joplin's ``Treemonisha''; and 
Mistress Quickly in Verdi's ``Falstaff.''
  Betty Allen has brought so much joy to many audiences of all ages and 
diversity with her beautiful voice. She has long been committed to 
nurturing young artists across all disciplines and opening doors for so 
many African American children who would have never had the opportunity 
exploit their talents.
  From 1979 to 1992 she served as Executive Director and President to 
her beloved Harlem School of the Arts. Upon her retirement she stayed 
on as President Emeritus. While HSA was born of the commitment and 
ideals of its founder, it was Betty Allen who strengthened the 
foundation of the vibrant and inspiring institution that it is today. 
HSA honored Betty Allen with the inaugural Betty Allen Lifetime 
Achievement Award at the Art is Life Gala on Monday, March 9, 2008, and 
graced her presence at this year's benefit.
  In addition to her many years as a leader and master teacher with 
HSA, Ms. Allen has also taught at the North Carolina School of Arts, 
the Manhattan School of Music, and the Curtis institute of Music in 
Philadelphia. She also holds Honorary Doctorates from Wittenberg 
University, Union College, Adelphi University, and Clark University in 
Massachusetts and the New School in New York City.
  Madam Speaker, HSA President and Chief Executive Officer Kakuna 
Kerina stated: ``The impact Betty Allen has made as an artist and arts 
educator is measured in the tens of thousands of lives she influenced 
in their youth. She was unique in that the standards she applied to 
herself were the same as the standards she expected of others, and we 
are better for it. We extend our condolences to Ms. Allen's family and 
thank them for sharing her with a vast community of admirers throughout 
the world.''
  Elizabeth ``Betty Lou'' Allen is a national treasure and true 
American heroine, whose artistic talents expanded the boundaries for so 
many African American children to achieve to be the best in any genre 
they choose to explore. May God bless all of us for the life of our 
American mezzo-soprano, Betty Allen.

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