Alison won an Exhibition to the Royal College of Music Junior Department and went on to study there full time as a pianist and clarinettist, with Alan Rowlands and Yu Chun Yee (piano) and David Campbell, Colin Bradbury and Sidney Fell (clarinet). Whilst studying for her degree, Alison formed a piano duo with a fellow student and they continued to give numerous duo recitals and concert performances in the UK and Europe. They have recorded for BBC Radios 3 and 4, VPRO (Netherlands) and BBC and Superchannel cable television, specialising in contemporary music and giving premiers of a number of works by English and South African composers.
As a clarinettist, Alison is a member of Riverside Reeds (clarinet and saxophone quartet), the Gregynog Ensemble (which recently gave the first English performance of Bernard Herrmann’s Clarinet Quintet in Oxford) and the Oxford based Chamber ensemble, Equinox.
As a member of the British Clarinet Ensemble, she frequently tours abroad in Europe and the U.S.A. and also performed in Japan in July 2005. The British Clarinet Ensemble will be releasing their second C.D. this Autumn.
Alison has been Director of Music at Kingshott School for the past twenty years. She is also recognised locally as conductor of Hitchin Concert Band. Alison is an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.