Trio Eris, New England Conservatory’s Professional Trio-in-Residence, is united by a genuine love of collaboration and a deeply personal approach to music-making. The trio is a top prizewinner of competitions including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and are also finalists in the YCA and Naumburg competitions. Trio Eris comprises violinist K.J. McDonald, cellist Thomas Lim, and pianist Andrew Jun Chen. Cellist Thomas Lim joined Trio Eris in 2026, adding a fresh energy and collaborative spirit that has quickly become central to the trio’s evolving sound.

Trio Eris has worked with distinguished artists including Vivian Weilerstein, Laurence Lesser, Don Weilerstein, Yeesun Kim, Ara Gregorian, Paul Katz, Laurie Smukler, Areta Zhulla, and the Horszowski Trio, and has performed in masterclasses for Robert McDonald, Claudio Martínez Mehner, Ida Kavafian, Michael Kannen, Itzhak Perlman, and Lucy Chapman. The trio has attended major chamber music programs including the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, IMS Prussia Cove, and the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop.

Recent and upcoming season engagements include performances at Schneider Concerts, Music for Food, Rockport Music, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Olympic Music Festival, The Shouse Institute at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, and Jordan Hall.
The trio has also shared their passion for collaborative music-making through educational initiatives in Panama, Virginia, Washington, and across Massachusetts.

Named—ironically—after the Greek goddess of discord and strife, Trio Eris finds itself perpetually swept up in a dynamic whirlwind of activity and relative chaos. Outside the rehearsal studio, the ensemble can often be found pursuing diverse hobbies including hiking, reading, cooking, and lifting weights.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival. He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

Mr. Asuncion is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship and performance. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 2007 from the University of Maryland under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. Victor Santiago Asuncion is a Steinway artist. Marian holds degrees from the University of South Florida, DePaul University, and the University of the Philippines. Her primary teachers include Dr. Carolyn Stuart, Dr. Olga Kaler, and Prof. Arturo Molina.