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. 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.