Monterey Symphony

Allison Gigi Dang
Violin

A fifth-generation native Californian, Allison Gigi Dang started life in Oakland, California, but grew up in Berkeley, where she began studying violin as an eight-year-old, in the public schools. When she reached seventh grade, she started having private lessons, and by high school, she couldn't imagine ever quitting. Educated at Vassar College, UC Berkeley, and the New England Conservatory of Music, she holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Linguistics (with specialization in Ancient Languages--Sanskrit, Egyptian and Attic Greek); and a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance of Violin. Her violin and chamber music teachers have included Donna DeNeeve, Arthur Jack O'Brien, Nathan Rubin, Jaime Laredo, Eric Rosenblith, Rudolf Kolisch, Leonard Shure, Felix Khuner, Adolf Baller, and Janet Guggenheim. In January 2008, she participated in a string quartet workshop with the Manhattan String Quartet, in Parma, Italy.

A former member of the Sacramento Symphony and the San Jose Symphony, she presently belongs to the Monterey Symphony, as well as the Symphony Silicon Valley, and freelancing, appears with other orchestras in the so-called "Freeway Philharmonic." Her symphonic experience includes performances with the Stockton Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Fremont Philharmonic, California Symphony, Oakland/East Bay Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, and Modesto Symphony, while she has played in the "pit" for Sonoma City Opera, California Opera, Berkeley Opera, San Francisco Opera, Western Opera Theater, Ballet San Jose, Peninsula Ballet Theater, San Jose Dance Theater, Oakland Ballet, Monterey Opera, and Oakland Opera. She has performed in chamber groups, such as the Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Chamber Symphony, Oakland Chamber Orchestra, and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra; and is a founding member of the Amici chamber ensembles. Formerly engaging in summer music festivals, she participated in the Bear Valley, Lake Tahoe, Music in the Mountains, Midsummer Mozart, Coronado and Nantucket Music Festivals. As a freelancer in the San Francisco Bay Area, she enjoys the variety of experience offered by her musical career, having toured twice with Western Opera Theater; played for a rock musical; appeared in an MTV video with rap artist Xzibit; performed in a string quartet for a sheep fashion show at a county fair; and provided romantic background music for a Valentine's Day proposal of marriage, for a Lesbian couple.

Interested in photography, she has had photographs exhibited in ten galleries and one museum, in four different states; and she was chosen as one of ten artists whose work was exhibited in a "California Landscapes" show, at Ohlone College. She also does volunteer work for the Oakland Museum Women's Board White Elephant Sale; serves as a member of the Casual Wage Scale Committee for AFM Local 6, the San Francisco Musicians' Union; and raises her fruit and veggie garden on organic principles, compost and worm castings.

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