About Allan

Allan Robert Petker (born 1955) is a published composer and arranger with more than 250 published works with numerous publishing houses. His conducting books, “Choral Questions and Answers” Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V, have become staples for school curriculum and secondary resource material. His crusade to offer a cure for musical illiteracy culminated in the publication of the ADVANCE learning series. As a composer for hire, he has written original scores for live performance and has penned a number of original TV commercials that have appeared on the CNBC network. Allan holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from California State University at Northridge in music, specializing in viola (BA), voice, and choral conducting (MA).

Publisher

Allan has been involved in the choral music publishing industry for many years. In 1977, he became the Director of Publications for Fred Bock Publishing Group, a group that publishes distinguished catalogs such as Gentry Publications, National Music, the H.T. FitzSimons Company, and Hinshaw Music. He is currently the Vice President of Publications. In 1989, he established his own company, Pavane Publishing, and later added John Rich Music Press to his portfolio.

Conductor

As a conductor, Allan frequently serves as a guest clinician or conductor for publishers, choral societies, church festivals, state honor choirs, and colleges. In 1994, he formed Consort Chorale, an ensemble of 50 auditioned voices from the San Francisco Bay area, which maintains an ongoing concert series. In 2004, he became the Conductor and Artistic Director for the Santa Clarita Master Chorale, an 80-voice ensemble that performs a subscription concert season with orchestra. In September of 2015, Allan became the conductor of the Los Cancioneros Master Chorale, a 60-voice auditioned choral ensemble based in Torrance, California. His chorales have toured Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Argentina and are preparing for a trip to South Africa. Internationally, he has guest-conducted choirs in England, Korea, and France.

Clinician

Since 1989, Allan has been a clinician in two summer church music conferences at Lake Tahoe, one for church choir singers, “Summer Sing,” and another for church choir directors, “Tuning @ Tahoe.” 

Instrumentalist

As an instrumentalist, Allan has done freelance studio work and occasional concert playing. You may even catch him playing jazz violin and viola at a local pub, one of his favorite things to do.

Personal

Allan is married to Kimberly Ayers, and they live in San Pedro, California. He has two grown children, Joshua Petker and Elyce Berrigan and a beautiful granddaughter, Isabella.