B i o g r a p h y
Allison Willet has appeared as a soloist with the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, the Winston-Salem Symphony and the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. She has also served as concertmaster of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra and the Philharmonia of Greensboro, principal second violin for the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and associate principal second violin for the Western Piedmont Orchestra. Allison performs regularly with the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Raleigh Camerata, the Bach Society of Charleston, and Mallarmé Chamber Ensemble.
Allison was the founder and director of Greensboro Early Music. She is also a founding member of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Bull City Baroque, Raleigh Camerata, and the NC Viol Consort.
Allison comes from a musical family. Some of her earliest memories are singing and playing the piano with her mother. At age 6 she started playing the violin, just like her grandmother. She learned the clarinet at age 11, playing in the middle school marching band, and she taught herself viola at age 16. In college she studied viola da gamba and viola d'amore. Allison graduated summa cum laude from Appalachian State University in 2006 with a degree in violin performance. She went on to graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and in 2008 earned a master's degree in violin performance. Allison has studied with baroque violinist Gesa Kordes and violist da gamba Gail Ann Schroeder. She has taken part in numerous historical performance workshops and festivals, including the Boston Early Music Festival, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, the Amherst Early Music Festival, the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, the Tafelmusik Institute, the Twin Cities Early Music Festival, and the Madison Early Music Festival.
Allison performs on modern violin, baroque violin, baroque viola, viola d'amore, and viola da gamba. She has been teaching violin, viola, and piano for 20 years.
In 2013, Allison earned her teaching certificate in the world-famous Suzuki violin method. In addition to her rigorous concert schedule, Allison maintains a private teaching studio in Wake Forest, NC, where she lives with her husband and three cats. She loves teaching music and always maintains a positive learning environment. Her students range from preschoolers to senior citizens, and from beginners to advanced. Please click on Lessons for more info.
