Described as “one of the most exciting up-and-coming musical talents today,” Peter Dudek is rapidly becoming known for his “soulful playing” and “impressively solid technique” (Molly Carr / Juilliard String Quartet). He is the first prize winner of several national competitions, including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Discover National Chamber Music Competition, and WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, and has appeared alongside such renowned artists as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Roger Tapping. Mr. Dudek participates regularly in festivals around the globe including Verbier in Switzerland, Keshet Eilon in Israel, the NAC Young Artists Program in Canada, and the Perlman Music Program in New York, and as an orchestral musician, has performed under the batons of Maestri Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Klaus Mäkelä, Gianandrea Noseda, Lahav Shani, and Daniele Gati.
In addition to performing, Mr. Dudek enjoys coaching chamber music, and teaching violin/viola and music theory. He currently serves as a Teaching Assistant for undergraduate and graduate Music Theory at the Juilliard School, maintains a private violin/viola studio, and through Project: Music Heals Us, regularly teaches music theory to students in the Korogocho neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya.
Mr. Dudek began his viola studies with Lisa Chodorowski and Charles Pikler, and received his musical education from the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Roger Tapping, Toby Appel, Molly Carr, and Yizhak Schotten. Before becoming a violist, Mr. Dudek was a dancer of Lajkonik, a Polish song and dance ensemble based in Chicago which performs throughout the United States and abroad to share and preserve Polish culture. When he is not with his viola, he enjoys hiking in the mountains, golfing and caddying, reading non-fiction, and above all spending time with family.