Allyson Dawkins
Associate Professor of Practice, Viola, Music
Contact
- ARTS 3.01.38
- 210-602-1672
- info@utsa.edu
- Curriculum Vitae
Bio
Allyson Dawkins, Principal Violist of the San Antonio Philharmonic has won consistent admiration for her performances as both orchestral soloist and recitalist. Critics have praised the "great sensitivity and intelligence" of her playing, as well as her "full-bodied, velvety tone."
Ms. Dawkins is Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Texas in San Antonio and is also highly sought after and widely respected as a private teacher. In 2023 she received the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio Teacher of the Year award. During the summer she serves as Dean of Students, teaches viola, and coaches quartets at the Castleman Quartet Program at State University of New York at Fredonia. Ms. Dawkins has a new publication of Josephine Trott’s Melodious Double-Stops Book II transcribed for Viola. She is also co-author, with Charles Castleman, of two technical instruction books titled Fingerboard Memory for viola and Superior Finger Exercises for violin. As a teacher and coach, she has taught at the New World Symphony, and participated in a workshop there on the topic of Orchestral Leadership.
She currently performs and teaches at the Sun Valley Music Festival, in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. She has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, and as Principal Violist of both the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, and the Sunriver Music Festival in Oregon. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Ms. Dawkins received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at Purchase, and a Master of Music degree and the prestigious Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.
Ms. Dawkins is civically active having served on many professional music boards. She was President of the San Antonio Chamber Music Society from 2021-2023 and served on that board from 2004-2023. She was a musician representative to the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Symphony from 2004-11. From 2012-18 she was a member of the Executive Committee of the American Viola Society. On the AVS Board she was Chair of the Orchestral Excerpt Competition and the Awards Committee.
Strongly committed to community service, Ms. Dawkins is director of the San Antonio Philharmonic Caroling Project, a program that takes musicians to area hospitals, hospices, correctional institutions, and shelters for homeless and food-deprived people during the December holiday season. Students are invited to participate alongside professional musicians so they can be mentored in civic volunteerism.
Teaching
- Private Instruction - Viola
Degrees
- B.F.A. in Music, State University of New York at Purchase (1975)
- M.M. in Music, Eastman School of Music (1979)
Honors and Awards
Youth Orchestras of San Antonio Private Teacher of the Year Award, 2023
