Peter Dudek
Viola
Peter Dudek has performed throughout the United States and abroad, appearing alongside renowned artists including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Areta Zhulla, Roger Tapping, and Vadim Gluzman. Violist of the Ulysses Quartet, his performance experiences span across prominent venues and festivals worldwide including the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Keshet Eilon Mastercourse (Israel), the NAC Young Artists Program (Canada), and the Perlman Music Program (New York and Florida).
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As an orchestral musician, Dudek has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Hill Auditorium, Ravinia Festival, and Chicago Symphony Center, under the batons of Maestri Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gati, Vasily Petrenko, Klaus Mäkelä, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and Lahav Shani.
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A dedicated educator, Dudek served as a Teaching Assistant for undergraduate and graduate music theory while earning his Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School (Class of 2024), and now, through Project: Music Heals Us, regularly teaches music theory to students in Kenya. With Quartet Bellezza, Dudek earned top honors in several competitions, including first prize in the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Dudek began his viola studies with Lisa Chodorowski and Charles Pikler, former principal violist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory in Highwood, Illinois. Prior, he started on piano with his mom, Marta Dudek, and violin with Bogdan Tomalski at age 9. Dudek started undergraduate studies with Yizhak Schotten at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) as a Chick Evans Scholar, and later continued at The Juilliard School where he studied with Molly Carr, Toby Appel, and Roger Tapping.
Before taking up the viola at age 16, Dudek was performing as dancer of Lajkonik Polish Folk Song and Dance Ensemble for eleven years, performing throughout the Chicago-land area and at international festivals, sharing and preserving Polish culture. When he is not with his viola, Dudek can be found in attendance at other performances, reading, snowboarding, golfing and caddying, rooting for the Chicago Bears, and spending time with friends and family.
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