Ashley Overby

Education

• Master of Music in Viola Performance, M.M.
  University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
• Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance, B.M.
  Miami University, Oxford, OH
• Bachelor of Arts in Biology, B.A.
  Miami University, Oxford, OH

Biography

Ashley Overby serves as an instructor of violin and viola at the University of South Alabama and is an active educator and performer throughout the Gulf Coast region. Though she currently resides in Mobile, she has taught and performed in communities in Ohio, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. She is a passionate teacher and avid chamber music performer as well as an active freelance musician, performing in a wide range of settings and genres.

Ms. Overby has experience teaching students of diverse skill levels and backgrounds, ranging from young beginners to advanced high school and college students. During her career, she has taught in a variety of settings, including private instruction, group classes, and small ensemble coaching. In addition to her role at the University of South Alabama, Ms. Overby works as a strings faculty member with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra music education program, teaching students throughout Mobile and Baldwin counties.

As a violist, Ms. Overby has extensive experience performing in orchestras and chamber ensembles. She has performed with symphony and opera orchestras throughout the region, including the Mobile Symphony, Tuscaloosa Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, and Alabama Symphony. She was also a member of the graduate string quartets at both the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Alabama. Ms. Overby has attended the Brevard Music Festival as well as the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, where she was an orchestral fellow. In 2022, she was selected to perform in a masterclass with Dr. Tze-Ying Wu at the joint American Viola Society Festival and International Viola Congress. 

Ms. Overby received undergraduate and master’s degrees in viola performance from Miami University (Ohio) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro respectively. She is currently completing the final requirements for her doctoral degree in viola performance at the University of Alabama. Her primary teachers include Mary Harris, Dr. Scott Rawls, and Dr. Jacob Adams. While Ms. Overby primarily performs as a violist, she has a great interest in the different technical approaches required in playing and teaching violin and viola. During her time at the University of Alabama, she explored these interests by studying violin with Prof. Jenny Grégoire as well as playing violin with the Early Music Ensemble. The combination of her viola and violin studies has culminated in elements of her doctoral research, where she presented a lecture on pedagogical approaches as a teacher of both violin and viola.