2026 American Viola Society Festival: Signature Artist, David Perry
David Perry
Violinist David Perry enjoys an international career as chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. Mr. Perry has performed in Carnegie Hall, most of the major cultural centers of North and South America, Europe, and the Far East. Mr. Perry joined the Pro Arte Quartet and the UW-Madison faculty in 1995, and was granted a Paul Collins Endowed Professorship in 2003. The Pro Arte celebrated its Centennial Anniversary in 2011-2012. Composers commissioned for the celebration include William Bolcom, John Harbison, Pierre Jalbert, Walter Mays, Benoit Mernier and Paul Schoenfield.
Former concertmaster of the Aspen Chamber Symphony, Mr. Perry was on the artist-faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School for nearly two decades and continues to tour the U.S. annually as founding violinist of the Aspen String Trio. Currently concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic, he has been a frequent guest concertmaster with such groups as the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the American Sinfonietta, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Active with Orpheus since the late 1980s, he may be heard on many of the ensemble’s Deutsche Grammophon recordings. Mr. Perry’s chamber and solo recordings can be found on the Delos, Naxos and Albany labels. He performs in the summers as first violinist of the Midsummer’s Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin.
A 1985 U. S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, his first prizes have included the International D’Angelo Competition, National MTNA Auditions, and the Juilliard Concerto Competition.
A native of Illinois, his early training was with John Kendall and Almita Vamos, followed by studies with Dorothy DeLay, Paul Kantor, and Masao Kawasaki at the Juilliard School. Thanks to the Nathan McClure Opportunities Fund, Mr. Perry plays on a 1711 Franciscus Gobetti violin, arranged by Chancellor John Wiley and the UW Foundation.