Pedro Mendez
Pedro Mendez is a Venezuelan violist currently serving as the Viola Fellow with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where he performs regularly with the orchestra and takes part in their Educational Programs through the Young Musicians and Young Strings programs.
Pedro recently won a position with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and he will officially join the viola section at the start of the 2025 season.
He also holds the position of Assistant Principal Viola with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed as a substitute with top-tier ensembles including the Nashville Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also performed with the chamber orchestra A Far Cry, where he took part in the recording of a piece by Jessie Montgomery that later won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. In that project, he played a leading role as Assistant Principal Viola contributing to the group’s collaborative approach without a conductor.
Pedro has been a fellow at several distinguished festivals and training programs, including the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Classical Tahoe, and the Chicago Sinfonietta, and served as Principal Viola of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2021 to 2023.
Pedro was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Pedro began his musical journey through the internationally acclaimed El Sistema. He earned a Diploma in Violin Performance from the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory in 2015 before transitioning to viola and completing his Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he studied with Li-Kuo Chang, Roland and Almita Vamos.
Pedro is also an experienced educator, having taught at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory, in EL Sistema, the Centroccidental University “Lisandro Alvarado”, and the Academia Latinoamericana de Violin. He continues his educational work in the U.S. through his current involvement with the DSO’s youth and community programs.