Peter Allen is a Canadian composer, organist, and keyboard player. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, his compositions encompass a broad repertoire from film scores and commercial jingles to sacred music and avant-garde electroacoustic music. He has composed numerous works for CBC Radio and CBC Television.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Allen was a pupil of Boyd McDonald and Robert Turner [1] at the University of Manitoba where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1975. Between 1976 and 1977 he pursued graduate studies at McGill University where his teachers included Bengt Hambraeus, Alcides Lanza, and Bruce Mather. During the 1970s he was a founding member of the contemporary concert series IZ Music, [2] along with three other Manitoba composers; Bruce Carlson, William Pura and James Hiscott. Their concerts were regularly recorded by the CBC and broadcast on Two New Hours, CBC Radio Toronto. Allen also worked as a pianist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and was active as a keyboardist with a number of local club and rock bands. In 1980 he became organist at St. Mary's Cathedral, Winnipeg and in 1984 was appointed music director for Pope John Paul II's papal mass outdoors at Bird's Hill Park in Winnipeg, for which he was also commissioned to compose a new mass setting. From 1985 to 1986 he worked for Century 21 Studios as their in-house composer and music producer. [3]
Allen moved to Los Angeles, California in 1986 to pursue studies in film scoring at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. In 1988 he moved to Vancouver British Columbia to open his own recording and sound production studio, Peter Allen Associates Inc. [4] He has composed music for more than 100 films for American, Canadian and British film companies, including Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal Pictures, CineTel Films, The National Film Board of Canada, the CBC, LifeTime, Hallmark as well as numerous independent film producers, and has written music for various television shows and series, including a theme song for the Winnipeg Jets in 1979, the broadcast theme for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Montreal Expos, the Winning Spirit theme for the Vancouver Canucks, [5] and also the international broadcast theme for the 1994 Commonwealth Games. In October 2012, "Tear The Curtain", directed by Kim Collier, played on the Canadian Stage, the largest theatre stage in Canada. "Tear The Curtain" is a simultaneous mix of live theatre and film, and features a score by Peter Allen, [6] both in the film segments and the live segments of the production. Peter worked with Kim Collier again in 2019 to create the score for "The Full Light of Day", which played at the Luminato Festival in Toronto in 2019. In 2003 he won a Leo Award for his score for the film Flower & Garnet and in 2019 for his score for the film Truly Madly Sweetly. [7]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow | |
| 1994 | ||
| 1995 | Heaven's Tears | |
| Dangerous Prey | ||
| For a Few Lousy Dollars | ||
| 1997 | Crackerjack 2 | |
| Sleeping Dogs | ||
| 1998 | Hell Mountain | |
| Dark Confessions | ||
| Sparky Versus Rocco | Short Film | |
| Act of War | ||
| 1999 | A Twist of Faith | |
| Escape Velocity | ||
| The Silencer | ||
| Lethal Target | ||
| 2000 | Bear with Me | |
| Fatal Conflict | ||
| Crackerjack 3 | ||
| The Operative | ||
| Last Stand | ||
| 2001 | Ripper | |
| 2002 | Flower & Garnet | |
| Starfire Mutiny | Direct-to-video | |
| The Barber | ||
| 2003 | Casanova at Fifty | Short Film |
| 2004 | 11:11 | |
| Ripper 2: Letter from Within | ||
| 2005 | Sara Under Siege | Short Film |
| Thralls | ||
| The Score | ||
| 2006 | Shock to the System | |
| 2007 | A Dennis the Menace Christmas | Direct-to-video |
| Blonde and Blonder | ||
| Tit for Tat | Short Film | |
| 2008 | Scourge | |
| Incident at a Truckstop Diner | Short Film | |
| On the Other Hand, Death | ||
| The Art of War II: Betrayal | Direct-to-video | |
| Ice Blues | ||
| Christmas Town | Direct-to-video | |
| 2009 | The Cycle | |
| Attention, the Doors Are Closing | Short Film | |
| Driven to Kill | Direct-to-video | |
| Damage | ||
| 2010 | Dancing Ninja | |
| The Stranger | Direct-to-video | |
| The Diner Suit | Short Film | |
| 2011 | Pressed | |
| Skew | ||
| Jesus Christ | Short Film | |
| Rise of the Damned | ||
| Dead Simple | Short Film | |
| Liz | Short Film | |
| 2012 | American Mary | |
| Now and Forever | Short Film (music written and performed) | |
| 2013 | Out of Business' | Short film |
| Cup Runneth Over | Short film | |
| 2014 | The Clockwork Girl | Feature Animation |
| Toxin | ||
| 2015 | A Perfect Wedding | |
| 2016 | Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House | Direct-to-video |
| 2017 | Bigger Fatter Liar | Direct-to-video |
| Selfie From Hell | Feature Film | |
| 2018 | The Big Top Fury | Short Film |
| 2023 | If You're Reading This | Documentary |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Tales from the Crypt | 1 episode |
| 1994 | Metro Cafe | |
| 1996 | Downdraft | Television film |
| 1997 | Kleo the Misfit Unicorn | 26 episodes |
| Dead Fire | Television film | |
| 1998 | The Other Side of the Picture | Documentary |
| 1999 | Escape from Mars | Television film |
| Slightly Bent TV | ||
| Sasquatch Odyssey: The Hunt for Bigfoot | Documentary | |
| 2002 | atHome | |
| 2004 | On Course | |
| Deep Evil | Television film | |
| Happyland | Television film | |
| Eve's Christmas | Television film | |
| A Very Cool Christmas | Television film | |
| 2005 | Steklo | Mini-series (3 episodes) |
| Home for the Holidays | Television film | |
| His and Her Christmas | Television film | |
| 2006 | Lesser Evil | Television film |
| The Obsession | Television film | |
| Family in Hiding | Television film | |
| Deadly Skies | Television film | |
| Breaking Ranks | Documentary | |
| Four Extraordinary Women | Television film | |
| 21st Annual Gemini Awards | Television special | |
| All She Wants for Christmas | Television film | |
| 2007 | A Valentine Carol | Television film |
| Witness to Murder | Television film | |
| Destination: Infestation | Television film | |
| 2008 | The Afterlife with Suzane Northrop | Documentary (10 episodes) |
| Let's Talk Sex | 10 episodes | |
| Making Mr. Right | Television film | |
| Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict] | Television film (international version) | |
| Mixed Nutz | ||
| 2009 | Storm Seekers | Television film |
| Black Rain | Television film | |
| Encounter with Danger | Television film | |
| Vancouver Vagabond | Documentary | |
| Health Nutz | Television film | |
| Something Evil Comes | Television film | |
| 2010 | A Family Thanksgiving | Television film |
| Two Men in a Boat: Chasing Spring | Documentary | |
| 2011 | The Adventures of Artie the Ant | 12 episodes |
| Past Obsessions | Television film | |
| 2012 | What's Up Warthogs! | 19 episodes |
| Broken Trust | Television film | |
| Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade | Television film | |
| 2013 | Health Nutz | 7 episodes |
| The Trainer | Television film | |
| Profile for Murder | Television film | |
| Forever 16 | Television film | |
| 2014 | Irreplaceable | Documentary |
| My Mother's Future Husband | Television film | |
| The Color of Rain | Television film | |
| Recipe for Love | Television film | |
| Wedding Planner Mystery | Television film | |
| 2015 | I Do, I Do, I Do | Television film |
| The Wrong Girl | Television film | |
| Ties That Bind | 9 episodes | |
| Angels in the Snow | Television film | |
| Debbie Macomber's Dashing Through the Snow | Television film | |
| 2016 | Stop the Wedding | Television film |
| Chesapeake Shores | 1 episode | |
| Terres d'Exploration | Television mini-series documentary | |
| 2017 | Nations at War | Documentary |
| The Christmas Train | Television film | |
| 2018 | Truly Madly Sweetly | Television film |
| 2020 | Charlie's Christmas Wish | Television film |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Spongebob Squarepants: A Day in the Life of a Sponge |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Titus Andronicus | Bard On The Beach |
| 2010 | Tear The Curtain | Arts Club Theatre |
| 2013 | You Are Very Star | Electric Company Theatre |
| 2019 | The Full Light Of Day | Electric Company Theatre |
| Year | Project | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | A Twist of Faith | Best Musical Score in a Motion Picture (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| 2002 | The Barber | Feature Length Drama: Best Musical Score (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| 2003 | Casanova at Fifty | Short Drama: Best Musical Score (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| Flower & Garnet | Feature Length Drama: Best Musical Score (Leo Award) | Won | |
| 2005 | 11:11 | Feature Length Drama: Best Musical Score (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| 2006 | The Score | Best Music Score in a Feature Length Drama (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| The Score | Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series (Gemini Award) | Nominated | |
| 2008 | A Dennis the Menace Christmas | Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Drama (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| Scourge | Best Music Score in a Feature Length Drama (Leo Award) | Nominated | |
| 2009 | The Art of War II: Betrayal | Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Drama (Leo Award) | Nominated |
| 2014 | Destination: Infestation | Domestic Feature Film Award (SOCAN Award) | Won |
| 2019 | Truly, Madly, Sweetly | Best Musical Score in a Television Movie (Leo Award) | Won |
| 2023 | If You're Reading This | Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Documentary (Leo Award) | Nominated |
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