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Betty Van Allen
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Betty Van Allen (March 17, 1927 – June 22, 2009) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international singing career during the 1950s through the 1970s. In the latter part of her career her voice acquired a contralto-like darkening, which can be heard on her recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was known for her collaborations with American composers, such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, and Virgil Thomson among others. Allen was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who helped break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world. She was greatly admired by Bernstein and the conductor notably chose her to be the featured soloist for his final performances as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1973. After her singing career ended, she became a lauded voice teacher and arts administrator.
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Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
The Face Is the First Casualty
From Gotham's newest monster to silent Hollywood's phantom and Cronenberg's surgical twins, a chain about bodies rebuilt by the industries that broke them.
8 films
The Path to La La Land & Its Legacy
A decade on from its 2016 debut, La La Land remains a landmark achievement in modern cinema: a dazzling, bittersweet love letter to big dreams and hard choices....
7 films
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