Miami, Florida
Alyssa Mercedes Mena is a Cuban-American flutist, composer, and educator based in Miami, Florida. Her work explores storytelling through performance and composition, alongside a commitment to mentorship and community. An active performer across orchestral, chamber, and solo settings, she performs regularly as Principal Flute with the South Florida Symphony Orchestra and as Third Flute/Piccolo with Florida Grand Opera, and is a frequent collaborator with Miami-based Nu Deco Ensemble. She also performs with ensembles including Palm Beach Symphony, Symphony of the Americas, New World Symphony, and The Last Hundred, and is a member of the Sugar Hill Salon Chamber Series Collective in New York City.
Alyssa was the First Prize winner of the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Young Artist Flute Competition and has received national recognition through the National Flute Association, including Second Prize in the Low Flute Artist Competition and winner of the Newly Published Music Competition for her solo alto flute work, Hasta La Raíz (Coleman Page Publishing). She is also the winner of the 2025 Frost Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition and performed Lowell Liebermann’s Flute Concerto No. 1 with the ensemble in November 2025.
In her work as a composer, Alyssa draws from her Cuban heritage, exploring themes of identity, memory, and cultural connection. Recent projects include Los Sueños de Mis Abuelos, a chamber work for flute, oboe, and piano commissioned and premiered by the Seattle Symphony as part of their 2026 chamber series Through Her Window. The work reflects on her grandparents’ experiences with immigration, labor, and legacy. Additional commissions will be premiered at the 2026 National Flute Association Convention in Portland, including one for the National LGBTQIA+ Flute Choir. Her work is also featured on the albums Unseen//Unheard (Strange Moon Records) and Triptych: New Works for Alto Flute (Austrian Gramophone), highlighting new repertoire for alto and bass flutes. Her works are published by Coleman Page Publishing.
Currently, Alyssa is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where she studies with Dr. Jennifer Grim and is a Henry Mancini Institute Fellow. An active educator, she serves as a teaching assistant through the Donna E. Shalala MusicReach Program, working with students in local schools and underserved communities, and maintains a private studio where she teaches flute, piano, and composition. She holds a Master of Music from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Jim Walker, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where she studied with Trudy Kane.