Allison's Story
Why She's Glowing
What does being a part of the Firefly Brass Duo mean to her?
Allison studied horn as a youth with the Milwaukee area's Kathryn Krubsack, and in college (Valparaiso University '05) with John Schreckengost - although she did not pursue performing at a professional level until 2015. At that time she began working with Darcy Hamlin of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in regular lessons, also receiving guidance from hornists Bill Barnewitz (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) and Ronald Beitel (Utah Symphony Orchestra). She ultimately purchased a Lukas horn from custom horn maker Dan Vidican. She worked to take higher level orchestral auditions, and was starting to make some progress.
However, starting in 2016 Allison also began experiencing some medical circumstances in her abdominal area due to a rare congenital issue called Nutcracker Syndrome of the left renal vein. She had to undergo many surgeries to address the issue and ultimately fix complications that arose. Ten different surgeries and procedures were required over the course of three years - many unexpected, several very major. This meant that horn playing could no longer be guaranteed... Especially when it came to orchestral commitments.
The uncertainty of playing horn, amongst other things, is why Allison changed direction and began her business Wisconsin Music Ventures in 2019. This provided a way to still work in and around music, promoting friends and other great local artists, while occasionally performing herself - when she was ready/able. In the process of assembling the business is when Allison reconnected with Emmy.
She is grateful to have an opportunity to perform at a high level, once again - much less with someone who grew up in the same town and youth music program as herself.
