Emily Allaway
Spring 2013
Emily Allaway is a 16-year-old junior at Bellingham High School. She was attracted to playing music at an early age, dabbling with violin at perhaps age three, then beginning piano at the age of five. She studied bagpipe chanter with Peter Rolstad of the Bellingham Pipe Band for two years, played the recorder through eighth grade with Emma Zook at the Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, and studied bassoon with Pat Nelson for three years. As a pianist, Emily studied with Judy Johnson for four years and has been a student of Dr. Judy Widrig’s for the past five years. She has studied cello with Coral Marchant for six years. On her family travels, she also studied with the Kefalonia Philharmonic in Greece, and with the Fiesole School of Music (cello) and Il Trillo School of Music (piano) in Italy.
Under the guidance of Dr. Widrig, Emily has competed for several years in the Seattle Bach Festival and in the Russian Festival, receiving Honorable Mention. This will be the fourth year she has played a full program in the Seattle Young Artist Festival. Emily regularly participates in the WMEA Solo and Ensemble Competition, both as an instrumentalist and accompanist. In the Bellingham Music Club’s Enid Carrick piano competition Emily received third place in 2011, tied for second place in 2012 and recently acheived 1st place in 2013.
Emily joined the Mount Baker Youth Symphony in sixth grade, playing piano, cello, and bassoon. For her eighth grade school project she composed a symphonic piece, Fantasy in C Minor, which was performed by MBYS in 2010. She played with North Sound Youth Symphony in sixth grade and has been an enthusiastic member since rejoining in 2011.
Emily has enjoyed playing in the Summer Sounds (4 years), Marrowstone (3 years) and Chamber Days (3 years) festivals. She also plays with various ensembles in Bellingham. Emily has a special interest in piano accompaniment, playing for school musicals, accompanying the Bellingham High School choir (including for their participation in a national festival in New York City this April), and playing keyboard with the Starry Night Orchestra for Northwest Ballet Theater’s production of The Nutcracker at the Mount Baker Theatre.
When not playing music or doing schoolwork, Emily likes to read, watch movies, hang out with her friends, dance, write, and travel. She is considering majoring in music in college.
Emily is grateful to Dr. Widrig for helping her prepare this concerto, and to Grant Donnellan and the North Sound Youth Symphony for the opportunity to perform it.