The “ASI Tree of Life” is a creation that was commissioned to celebrate 50 years of growth of the American Suzuki Institute. In 1971, Margery Aber, inspired by Shinichi Suzuki, planted the seed for the Institute. In this online version, the names off all of the faculty who have taught at ASI in these first 50 years are listed below the interactive tree. The leaves represent present-day families, alumni and friends whose lives have been touched by ASI and who support the ongoing process of Celebrating the Past – Shaping the Future.

Brian Lewis teaches violin at the University of Texas at Austin and serves as Artistic Director of the Starling-DeLay Symposium at Julliard.  He grew up as a Suzuki student in Ottawa, Kansas, where he studied with his mother, Alice Joy Lewis and Eleanor Allen, and studied with Dr. Suzuki in Japan.  He received his Degree in Violin Performance with Dorothy DeLay at Julliard.  Mr. Lewis has been a featured violin soloist around the world. Acclaimed performances include concerto debuts in both New York’s Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall.  Internationally, Mr. Lewis has been a featured recitalist in Australia, Canada, Asia, Latin America, South America and Europe.

Pianist Nathan Buckner and violinist Ting-Lan Chen have performed most of the standard violin/piano duo repertoire, including multi-recital series: “The Ten Sonatas for Piano and Violin of Beethoven” and “The Complete Works for Violin and Piano of Brahms”, as well as more specialized literature including works by London Pianoforte School composers, American repertoire from the eighteenth century to the present, and contemporary literature including several world premieres. Together, Chen and Buckner have performed in the U.K., South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and throughout the United States. Their recording “American Violin Sonatas” was released by the Albany Records in 2020, and their recording “La Morte di Dussek: Sonatas and Trios” as members of the Frahm-Lewis Trio was released by Navona Records in 2024. Both Buckner and Chen serve on the faculty at the University of Nebraska—Kearney.