Allan E. Naplan joined Arizona Musicfest in 2013.  Since his arrival, the organization has realized transformative growth and success.  During his tenure, Musicfest has greatly expanded the number of concert performances offered each season; the breadth of musical genres presented; the caliber of guest artists engaged; and the total number of patrons attending the annual concert season, now exceeding 50,000 per year.  Further, charitable support for the organization has dramatically increased, providing the non-profit with a healthy fiscal balance of earned vs. unearned revenue.  Under his direction, Arizona Musicfest has presented a distinguished roster of guest artists, including Jason Alexander, Paul Anka, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Michael Bolton, Chris Botti, Rosanne Cash, Kristin Chenoweth, Il Divo, Michael Feinstein, Renée Fleming, David Foster, Sutton Foster, Kenny G, Augustin Hadelich, Samara Joy, Lyle Lovett, Patti LuPone, Johnny Mathis, Midori, Rita Moreno, Marie Osmond, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, LeAnn Rimes, Lea Salonga, Gil Shaham, and Mavis Staples, as well as the Carnegie Hall Big Band, Pink Martini, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Manhattan Transfer, The Ten Tenors, The Texas Tenors, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Piano Guys and many others.

In 2025, Allan launched Musicfest Theatricals, a new division of Musicfest, which offers fully-staged theatrical concert productions of Broadway musicals, featuring guest Broadway artists together with top musical theater performers from the Phoenix market.

Off the concert stage, Allan’s championing of the organization’s music education, youth performance, and community engagement programming has led to important developments.  These developments include his creation of Music Alive!, the organization’s popular lifelong learning and creative aging series (over 350 presentations each season), as well as his conception of The Music of Arizona, the organization’s signature music education program.

In 2020, Naplan was recognized as an “Arts Hero” by On Stage/On Media magazine, the official publisher of arts performance programs for the Phoenix valley.  Previously in 2018, Naplan was named as a “Best of Arts and Culture” winner by the Phoenix Jewish News for his leadership of Arizona Musicfest and his artistic contributions to the community.

After an initial career as an opera singer, Allan transitioned to arts management in 1999. Since that time, he has enjoyed a varied career as an accomplished opera administrator, music educator, cantorial soloist and composer.

As an opera administrator, Allan held key positions with the Houston Grand Opera (Assistant Artistic Administrator), Pittsburgh Opera (Director of Artistic Administration), Madison Opera (General Director) and Minnesota Opera (President and General Director).

Allan maintains an active career as an award-winning composer, published by Boosey & Hawkes, Shawnee Press, Silver Burdett-Ginn, Transcontinental Music, and Colla Voce Music. Allan’s choral works—many of which are standard repertoire for treble and adult choirs—have been performed and recorded in over-forty countries and have been featured in concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New York City’s Lincoln Center, The White House, on-board Space Shuttle Columbia, Mission STS-107, and in the 2002 Academy Award nominated documentary SING!. Since 1994, his works have sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide.

For the 2019 Arizona Musicfest season, the Festival Orchestra, joined by the Phoenix Girls Chorus, performed Allan’s “Schlof Main Kind, A Yiddish Lullaby” featuring the Violins of Hope, a collection of violins recovered from the Holocaust. (Click picture to view performance video).  Following the Musicfest performances, this work was performed at the National Cathedral in Washington DC as part of a Holocaust commemoration, and in 2021 the work was featured in a special concert event for Violins of Hope LA.

Allan holds degrees in vocal performance and music education from the Ithaca College School of Music, where he was honored as the College’s 2004 “Distinguished Young Alumni Award” recipient.

Originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts, Allan currently resides in Phoenix, AZ along with his wife Christina Harrop and their sons, Jonah and Elliot.