BernieAllen
- Composer
- Musical director
Bernie Allen, QSM, was a professional musician and teacher before beginning his TV career as musical director of popular 60s show C’mon. He continued on to Happen Inn, followed by a vast number of shows as composer or music director over the next two decades. His score for Hunter’s Gold won an APRA Silver Scroll; his arrangement of ‘Hine E Hine’ accompanied the classic Goodnight Kiwi animation.
Screenography
Biography
A professional musician since the mid 50s, multi-instrumentalist Bernie Allen was one of NZ television’s leading musical directors, through the heyday of light entertainment in the 1970s and early 80s. As a composer, his themes and scores accompanied a host of dramas and general programming over more than two decades. Ex Television New Zealand head of entertainment Tom Parkinson remembers Allen as both modest and extremely versatile. "His talent was to sense the right musician, instrument, arranger, and song to fit the production".
Awards
1987 Queen's Service Medal
For Service to the Community
1985 Variety Artists Club of New Zealand
Scroll of Honour
1977 APRA Silver Scroll Awards (Australasian Performing Right Association)
Winner of Light Music Section: Hunter’s Gold
“Bernie Allen has a vast and practical musical knowledge. His sound palette ranges comfortably from the honking tenor sax of 50s rock'n'roll to the harpsichord complexities of JS Bach, and for the sheer fun of it, passing John Philip Sousa on the way.”
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