Since 1994 the Adaskin String Trio has won over audiences with exuberant playing and programming that blends classical masterpieces with unexpected treasures. The trio has toured throughout the USA and Canada performing at venues such as the The Frick Collection in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, and in Boston, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, and Chicago.

The trio commands an impressive string trio repertoire ranging from Haydn and Schubert to Dohnanyi, Villa-Lobos, Schnittke, and composers of today including Chick Corea, Paul Simon and Michael White. Gramophone Magazine hailed the trio's "superb playing" on their two-CD set of the five Beethoven String Trios, the cornerstone of the repertoire. Collaborations are an exciting part of many of the trio’s concerts, from quartets with oboe or piano by Mozart or Brahms to exciting recent masterpieces by composers such as Oswaldo Golijov or Kenji Bunch. Their MSR Classics release of the two piano quartets by Gabriel Fauré with long-time collaborator, pianist Sally Pinkas, was hailed as “worth celebrating… splendid” (Classical Voice of New England).

The members of the trio met in Montreal where they each studied chamber music with founding Orford Quartet cellist Marcel Saint-Cyr. They later completed two years as ensemble-in-residence at The Hartt School under the guidance of the Emerson Quartet. The trio is named in honor of Murray Adaskin, one of Canada's most loved and respected composers, and two of his brothers, violinist Harry Adaskin and producer and music educator John Adaskin.

Emlyn Ngai follows an active career as both a modern and historical violinist, performing in Canada and the United States with the Adaskin String Trio. As concertmaster of Tempesta di Mare, he has performed in the US and Europe, most notably at the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin, Magdeburger Telemann-Festtage 2022, Internationale Zerbst-Fasch Festtage 2023, Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Saal in Köthen, the Berliner Philharmoniker Kammermusiksaal, and the Chiesa della Pietà in Venice. With Tempesta he has recorded twelve releases on
Chandos. Other recording credits include Centaur, MSR Classics, New World Records, and Telarc. His recordings for the label Musica Omnia have received acclaim in American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, and The Strad. Emlyn holds degrees from McGill University, Oberlin College Conservatory, and The Hartt School. His teachers have included Frona Colquhoun, Sydney Humphreys, Thomas Williams, Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer. While studying with Marilyn McDonald at Oberlin he won first prize on baroque violin in the 1995 Locatelli Concours Amsterdam, leading to performances in Bergamo and Berlin and a solo album with Vanguard Classics. Emlyn is passionate about teaching, having taught at Boston University, Mount Holyoke College, and McGill University as well as Amherst Early Music, Madison Early Music Festival, the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, and the Hartt Suzuki Institute. As a supporter of upcoming talent, he has also served as a panelist for Astral Artists and ensemble judge for the 2024 Jurow International Harpsichord Competition. Currently he teaches violin, orchestral repertoire, chamber music studies and
performance practice at the Hartt School, where he also co-directs the Collegium Musicum and serves as co-Chair of the Chamber Music Department.

Violist Steve Larson's playing has been described as "supercharged, clear-headed, yet soulful" (Boston Globe). He has performed with the Adaskin String Trio since 1994, and with the oboe, viola & piano trio, Ensemble Schumann, since 2005. Larson and his wife, violinist Annie Trépanier, perform regularly together both as members of Cuatro Puntos Ensemble, whose activities have included collaborations with artists from Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, the UK, and India, and as part of the Mad River String Quartet which explores the legacy of American repertoire in all its fascinating and entertaining variety. Larson is a former member of the Alcan Quartet and Avery Ensemble, and has performed as a guest with groups such as the Emerson Quartet and the Lions Gate Trio. Originally from Saskatchewan, he holds degrees from McGill University, The Hartt School and l'Université de Montréal, and won second prize and the special award for his performance of the commissioned work at the 1997 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in the UK. He is Principal Viola at the Wintergreen Festival in Virginia where he has performed and taught each July since 2007, and is a Senior Artist Teacher at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford where he has taught since 1998.

Cellist Mark Fraser, originally from Montreal, studied with Walter Joachim, Aldo Parisot, Yuli Turovsky, and David Finckel; he holds degrees from McGill University, l'Université de Montréal, and The Hartt School. For many years he was the founding Artistic Director of Project Renaissance, an arts festival near Montreal. Mark also performs frequently as a soloist and in recital - recording credits include a CD of works by Bach, Schumann, and Prokofiev with pianist Sooka Wang, and a 2013 CD of three of the Bach Suites for Solo Cello. In 2014 he became Executive Artistic Director of Mohawk Trail Concerts, one of New England’s longest standing (soon to celebrate 50 years!) and most renowned chamber music series.