Many of Ted Allen’s compositions reflect his California upbringing in their invocation of California’s environment and social history. Ted’s California works include his choral pieces Mendocino Coast September 2020, Then I Took a Walk, and the repertoire for his electro-acoustic sextet, The Incendiary Cycle.

Ted’s music has been performed by San Francisco Choral Artists, San Francisco Bach Choir, San Francisco Girls Chorus, San Jose Choral Project, New Jersey All State Chorus, Galax Quartet, and the University of South Dakota Chamber Orchestra. His string metal composition, Fire in the Forge, is a best seller in the school music market, and dozens of school orchestras have uploaded their performances of the piece to YouTube. His work has been supported by ASCAP Grants to Young Composers, New York Foundation for the Arts, and IntermusicSF.

After completing his education at Pomona College and the Yale School of Music, Ted spent 10 years in New York City working as a composer, arranger, and copyist. He returned to California in 1991, where he wrote video game scores and contributed two orchestrations to the Metallica/San Francisco Symphony collaboration S&M. In 1999, Ted embarked on a second career teaching high school orchestra, jazz band, piano, guitar, and music technology.