Celebrated for virtuosic performances offered with keen insight, masterful nuance, and good-natured humor, the Aspen String Trio is one of the rare professional string trios performing and touring today. In addition to the complete trios of Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert, they offer lesser-known works, including those of profound beauty by composers tragically suppressed by the Nazi regime, like Hans Krasà, Gideon Klein and Mieczyław Weinberg.

This program is offered in collaboration with Sioux City Tolerance Week.

Consistently praised for their “masterful sensitivity” and “ultra-refined musicianship,” their “tight ensemble work” and “musical intelligence,” AST formed as summer artist teaching colleagues at Aspen Music Festival and School more than twenty years ago. Formerly a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, violinist David Perry now leads the Pro Arte Quartet, in residence at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he holds an 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; formerly on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Hartt School of Music, she 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, he has served as Chamber Symphony Principal Cellist of the Aspen Music Festival and School for more than 25 years.

Recent engagements include performances for the Los Angeles Music Guild and the National Gallery of Art, the Rutenberg, Beaux Arts, and Jacobsen series, Chamber Music Kelowna, Ashville Chamber Music, and Barge Music. Trio members are committed to incorporating educational components into all residencies, offering not only masterclasses but also an array of workshops that address aspects of students’ professional lives beyond their instruments. The trio has held concert/teaching residencies throughout the U.S. and Canada, frequently collaborating with host colleagues to present larger chamber works—quartets, quintets, sextets, often with piano.