Gina Menden

Gina Menden is a versatile free-lance violinist/violist, performing in ballet, musical theatre, and opera orchestras, as well as professional, collegiate, and community orchestras and chamber groups, in the U.S., Mexico, and Portugal. She has recorded for TV commercials, served as a soloist for official military functions, and played in back-up string sections for headliner visiting artists. Ms. Menden has been a section violist with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra since 2010.

In addition to performing, Ms. Menden is very passionate about the education of young musicians. With over 25 years of private teaching experience, she continues to help students succeed at private- and public-sponsored solo and orchestral competitions. She has guided students to earn music scholarships, gain acceptance to a variety of competitive camps and university music programs, and become professional musicians and teachers, themselves. Since 2015, she has been a member of Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), serving as an adjudicator and clinician for TMEA’s Region 6 orchestra program. She previously worked as a coach of the Wichita Falls YSO String Ensemble and the YSO Strolling Strings, as well as a string instructor at Christ Academy and Adjunct Professor of Music for Strings at Midwestern State University.

Ms. Menden currently works as conductor of the Wichita Falls Youth Symphony Orchestra’s “Philharmonic,” a group she spearheaded in 2012; teaches violin and viola lessons at Fain Elementary through the YSO’s Gail Key Academy of Music; instructs violin and viola students in her home studio; and serves as a WFSO Artist-in-Residence, providing valuable assistance to WFISD orchestra programs.

Originally from Wisconsin, Ms. Menden graduated from the University of Arizona with a Master of Music degree in Viola Performance and Drake University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance. Notable teachers include Hong-Mei Xiao, Misha Rosenker, Liesel Soley, Nancy Nosal, and Stanley F. Nosal. In her free time, Ms. Menden enjoys reading, listening to music, learning, and spending time with her family.