Mrs. Allison Nero
Allison Nero is the orchestra teacher at Rotolo Middle School and director of the extracurricular Stringz Ensemble. Mrs. Nero previously taught at Batavia High School, where she directed all curricular orchestras, the co-curricular Chamber Orchestra, and founded the BHS String Theory co-curricular fiddle ensemble.
Mrs. Nero attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned degrees in both Music Performance and Music Education, attending on a full-tuition scholarship for viola performance under the instruction of Prof. Rudolf Haken and Masumi Per Rostad. Upon graduation, she received her first orchestra director position in DeKalb, Illinois, where she taught middle and high school orchestras from 2009-2015. Under the direction of Mrs. Nero, the middle school orchestras took first at state through the IGSMA Organizational contest four times, while the high school students received Festival of Gold ratings at traveling competitions. While teaching in DeKalb, she earned her Master's Degree in viola performance at Northern Illinois University under the instruction of Prof. Tony Devroye.
Mrs. Nero also has a unique background in Irish and Scottish fiddling, having performed with several Celtic ensembles, taught private fiddle lessons and masterclasses on the topic. She has also performed with two Middle Eastern ensembles.
Mrs. Nero lives in Batavia with her family and four pet birds. She frequently gigs for weddings and other events, but has also performed with the Fox Valley Orchestra and Kishwaukee Symphony. In her free time, Mrs. Nero enjoy painting, boating, traveling, baking, spending time outdoors, and being with family and friends!