Texas native Shane Almendarez began studying the viola at the age of thirteen. He was influenced by his mother who played viola when she was in school and it was love at first scratch. Shane took to the instrument rather quickly and was playing in the advanced orchestra of Clack Middle School in Abilene after only one semester of study. At the age of fourteen Shane’s family moved to Austin where he continued in the orchestra program at Bowie High School; he was also a member of the Austin Youth Symphony. In 1996, when Shane was seventeen, his family moved again, this time to east Texas and the city of Marshall for his senior year. That year Shane was a member of the All-Region Orchestra and also began playing with the Marshall Symphony Orchestra.

The summer of 1997 Shane joined the Texas Army National Guard and went to boot camp and school to become a Combat Field Medic and thus postponed the start of his college career. He enrolled at Stephen F. Austin State University in the fall of 1998 and received his Bachelor of Music in December 2004 and is currently working toward a Master of Music in viola performance from SFA and plans to graduate in summer of 2007. Shane considers himself fortunate to have studied viola and chamber music with Dr. Isidor Saslav and Dr. Jennifer Dalmas at SFA. Other influences include Dr. Evgeni Raychev and Dr. Jeff Jacobsen in the areas of chamber music and music education.

Shane performs in several regional symphonies including the Orchestra of the Pines in Nacogdoches, the Longview Symphony Orchestra, the Marshall Symphony Orchestra, and the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra. Shane also performs with the Longview String Quartet for various functions/events around East Texas.

In July of 2005 Shane married his best friend Jessica and they currently live in Marshall where Shane is the orchestra director at Marshall Junior High and Marshall High School. He considers his relationship with Jesus Christ top priority in his life and knows that his musical abilities were given to him as a gift for which he is very grateful.