The daughter of a public school music teacher in the Carmel, New York district, she won numerous international competitions starting at a young age.
Since 1999 she has been the Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic, playing under music director and conductor Lorin Maazel,[1] and in her 20-year teaching career has trained many successful students as well as serving concurrently as head of the harp departments at the Juilliard School (where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees) and Aspen Music Festival and School.
Her own teachers included Pearl Chertok, Lily Laskine, Marcel Grandjany, and her predecessor at Juilliard, Susann McDonald.
She has made numerous recordings (one nominated for a Grammy Award) and has performed solo concerts for forty years.
Her sister Barbara Allen is the principal harpist for the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and the Greenwich Symphony.