David is sponsored by Michael Elkow for Midsummer’s 2024 season.

Violinist David Perry enjoys an international career as chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician and educator, and has performed in Carnegie Hall, and in most of the major cultural centers of North and South America, Europe, and the Far East.

An active chamber musician, he is a member of the Pro Arte Quartet who celebrated its Centennial Anniversary in the 2011-2012 season. Acclaimed composers commissioned for the celebration include William Bolcom, John Harbison, Pierre Jalbert, Walter Mays, Benoit Mernier and Paul Schoenfield. He regularly tours throughout the country as a founding violinist of the Aspen String Trio, and has performed with Midsummer’s Music since 1999.

Concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic, Perry has served as guest concertmaster with the China National Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and the American Sinfonietta among others. He also served as concertmaster for the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Active since the late 1980s with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, renowned for playing without a conductor, he can be heard on many of their Deutsche Grammophon recordings. Perry’s discography also includes chamber and solo recordings on the Delos, Sonos and Naxos labels.

A member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, he was granted a Paul Collins Endowed Professorship in 2003. Perry was also on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School for nearly two decades.  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.