About the Aspen String Trio  

The Aspen String Trio is one of the rare professional string trios performing and touring today. Celebrated for visionary programming and virtuoso performances offered with humor and insight, AST performs the complete trios of Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert, as well as lesser known blockbuster works by Dohnanyi, Hindemith, Martinů, Rozsa, Klein, Veress, Villa-Lobos and Ysaÿe, among others. Their many “themed” concert programs are in high demand, including a Goldberg Variations lecture recital,  Recovering “Degenerate” Music, offering works of heartstopping beauty by composers tragically suppressed by the Nazi regime, and a new program that imaginatively explores  John Harbison’s brilliant new trio,  “a major addition to the tiny string trio repertory,” paired with the work that inspired it, Mozart’s K563 “Divertimento,” an extraordinary masterpiece that hides under its title.  During his recent centennial year, AST introduced MieczysławWeinberg’s ravishing String Trio, only recently re-discovered.

Consistently praised for their masterful sensitivity and nuance, their ultra-refined musicianship, tight ensemble work and musical intelligence, AST formed as summer artist teaching colleagues at Aspen Music Festival and School more than twenty years ago.  Violinist David Perry, formerly a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, now leads the Pro Arte Quartet, in residence at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he holds a Collins Endowed Professorship; he is also concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic.  Violist Victoria Chiang is a member of the artist faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, was formerly on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Hartt School of Music, and previously served on the board of the American Viola Society.  Cellist Michael Mermagen is Associate Professor of Cello at UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance; formerly Associate Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at The Catholic University of America, and he has served as Chamber Symphony Principal Cellist of the Aspen Music Festival and School for more than 25 years.

Returning to live performance after the pandemic, the Trio’s engagements this season include performances and outreach for the Omaha Chamber Music Society, the Omaha Conservatory of Music, University of Nebraska-Omaha, the National Music Museum, the Bach Festival Society, Rollins College, and the Rutenberg Series (USF, Tampa). Recent engagements have included performances paired with educational engagement at the Chamber Music Society of Logan, Lousiana State University in Baton Rouge, and on series the Artists’ Series (Tallahassee), Beaux Arts Chamber Music Series (Naples), Ashville Chamber Music Series, Chamber Music Kelowna (BC), Los Angeles Music Guild, Barge Music (New York), and the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC).  The trio has held residencies in Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, Iowa, Alabama, Delaware, Washington, and Colorado. For six seasons AST was Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Baltimore.

The trio offers extensive outreach as an integral part of all residencies. As teaching faculty at distinguished universities and conservatories, trio members are all master teachers, offering inspiring classes, lessons and chamber music coachings for all ages, children through adult, and all experience levels.  While on the road they perform in community centers, senior residences, and in health care facilities. They also offer a variety of professional development workshops focusing on career-oriented topics such as: The business of music, The successful chamber ensemble, Teamwork and leadership, Effective rehearsal strategies, and Teaching as a profession. 

The Aspen String Trio has recorded music of Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss, and is currently preparing the complete string trios and other music of Martinů for release on the Naxos label.

[ Autumn 2022 ]
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