Sally Chisholm, violist of the Pro Arte Quartet, and Professor of Viola at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has had an extensive career in chamber music. She was a founding member of the Thouvenel String Quartet who won first prize at the Weiner International Chamber Music Competition, was a finalist of New York’s Naumburg Competition, performed on NBC’s TODAY Show, and toured China and Tibet.

Since joining the Pro Arte Quartet, Ms. Chisholm has performed numerous concerts in Eastern Europe, served twice as an international juror in Warsaw, Poland, presented four concerts in North Korea, and for two decades performed in Ernen, Switzerland, at the Festival Der Zukunft founded by pianist Gyorgy Sebok.

Ms. Chisholm is a permanent member of the Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute, the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and performs annually in Midsummers Music Festival in Door County. She frequently serves as Principal Violist of the Chicago Philharmonic and the Joffrey Ballet including their week long residency at Lincoln Center. In 2018 and 2019 she performed at the Otaru Festival in Japan, in 2019 gave the world premiere of the John Harbison Viola Sonata, and in 2020 taught viola master classes at the Manhattan School in New York. World premieres of viola quintets by Paul Wiancko and John Harbison are scheduled for 2024.

She returned to Marlboro Music Festival this past summer for her fifteenth season, joining musicians including violists Nobuko Imai, Hsin Yun Huang, and Mischa Amory, violinist Arnold Steinhardt, cellist Peter Wiley, and artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss. Composers in residence were Thomas Adés, Sally Beamish, and Paul Wiancko. Her former students include violists in major orchestras, renowned chamber musicians and internationally recognized teachers. She performs on the viola formerly owned by violist Georges Janzer.