Mara Isabel Arredondo is an accomplished violist and passionate music educator who is well-versed in both orchestral and chamber music performances. As a native of El Paso, Texas, Ms. Arredondo is a proud member of the El Paso Symphony where she has performed 6 masterworks per season under the direction of Bohuslav Rattay since first joining in 2016. Additionally, Ms. Arredondo is a violist for the Camerata Del Sol of Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she has played various concerts since the organization’s establishment in 2017.
In addition to her performing career, Ms. Arredondo has dedicated herself to inspiring new generations of musicians as a music educator. She is currently a faculty member at the Young Women’s STEAM Research & Preparatory Academy in El Paso where she teaches both piano and single-handedly established the school’s orchestra program upon joining in 2018. Ms. Arredondo is also a past and current faculty member for the Classical Music Institute’s (CMI) Summer Education Program in San Antonio. As a CMI summer instructor, Ms. Arredondo has taught and implemented string methods to beginning musicians and helped to prepare them for end-of-program performances. Additionally, she and other CMI faculty members would perform between 4-6 concerts per program showcasing elite examples of orchestral, solo, and chamber music.
Ms. Arredondo received a Bachelor of Music in Performing Arts degree from Texas Tech University, where she was awarded the Clara Freshour Foundation Scholarship. As a first-year undergraduate student at Texas Tech University, Ms. Arredondo also auditioned and won a position in the Lubbock Symphony’s viola section where she played from 2010-2014. Upon completing her undergraduate studies, Ms. Arredondo went on to further her music education at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Atar Arad. She received her Master of Music in Performing Arts degree from Indiana University in 2016, where she graduated as a Member of the Honor Society with a 3.8 GPA.
