Praised for “fine sensitivity in her solos” by Chicago Classical Review, Allyson Goodman enjoys a varied and vibrant career as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Recently appointed Principal Violist of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra/Washington National Opera, Allyson also performs regularly in venues throughout the D.C. area such as the Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and Dumbarton Church.

Winning Gold and Grand Prize at the 2013 Young Texas Artists Music Competition, Allyson has also been a prizewinner at the Irving M. Klein International Competition, the National Federation of Music Clubs competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition, amongst others. She has performed as a soloist with the New World Symphony, the Allen Philharmonic, and the Conroe Symphony, and has performed with the Miró Quartet and members of the Cavani and Cleveland Quartets.

An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, she premiered Marty Regan’s chamber opera, The Memory Stone, for string quartet and four voices with the Houston Grand Opera. She also performed György Kurtág’s Signs, Games, and Messages for solo viola at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, SC, and Bernard Rand’s Now Again with acclaimed mezzo soprano Susanne Mentzer at Rice University’s Syzygy series.

Allyson has been a fellow at the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Institute, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Colorado College Music Festival, and the Margess International Festival in Switzerland. Her primary teachers include renowned pedagogue Roland Vamos and James Dunham of the Grammy-winning Cleveland Quartet. After completing her studies, Allyson spent one year as a viola fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Allyson spends her summers performing at the Artosphere Festival in Arkansas, The Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and the Caroga Lake Music Festival in New York. When she’s not playing the viola, Allyson enjoys catching as many shows at the Kennedy Center as possible and exploring Washington D.C. on her bicycle.