Allen Skirvin

While the woods north of Portland are full of inspiration, they sorely lack violins and violas. That became apparent when Allen decided music was pretty groovy. It started in grade school when a Buddhist monk handed him a mallet and sat him in front of a marimba. This piqued his interest in music, prompting his mother to suggest he choose an instrument and take lessons. In his house, there was a piano and a guitar, so, naturally, he chose the violin. He set aside his father’s Conway Twitty CDs and his mother’s Cat Stevens and ventured into the world of intimidating-sounding composers whose names, for the most part, he couldn’t pronounce. He fiddled around for a couple of years, then in high school, he moved to Boise, ID, where he discovered the greatness that is all things viola and has never looked back. He was introduced to his first viola teacher, Jennifer Drake, by his high school orchestra teacher, Laurel Talley. Allen recently graduated from Boise State University, where he studied composition with Dr. Eric Scott Alexander, viola with Dr. Linda Kline, and piano with Dr. Del Parkinson.

Some of his recent projects include the quintet “Playing with Light,” which is featured as part of Boise State’s Luminary Center; His Viola Piano duet “Sanguine Serenade,” which was performed by Kenji Bunch and Monica Ohuchi; His String Quartet, “RainnShadow Rhapsody” that was performed by members of the Boise Philharmonic. He also composed and performed the music for the film Lucky Us by the Boise State Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, and he composed and performed the music for Boise State’s Beyond the Blue podcast.