Chauntee Ross

Music has always been a major component in Chauntee’s life. All of her siblings were musicians and they formed a string quartet. This ensemble was called Sisters of PraiZe and the young ladies performed in venues all over the Midwest, including opening up for Grammy award winning Fred Hammond. Chauntee began competing when she was 10 and won both the Junior and Senior Division Concerto Competition at the String Academy. In 2008 Chauntee won the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Stars of tomorrow competition which led to her making her solo debut with the MSO. That same year she placed in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto competition and soloed with Madison Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Chauntee was a semi-finalist in the Sphinx competition which led to the opportunity to join on the inaugural Sphinx Tour. Upon graduating, Chauntee began her studies with Aaron Berofsky at U of M in Ann Arbor, MI. In the inaugural chamber music competition, Chauntee’s quartet placed 1st. In 2011 she attended the New York String Seminar. It was there that she began to think about combining the various bits of her background and how she could bring all of that diversity into her music. SistaStrings was born after some time as a result of that. SistaStrings is a Violin/Cello duo Chauntee started with her cellist sister. The ladies have opened for legends like The Roots, performed with Grammy winning artist Malik Yusef, Lupe Fiasco, Bone Thugs’N Harmony and the list goes on. The ladies collaborate with local artists and perform in schools and churches as well and concert halls and bars.

Music is part of Chauntee’s way of expressing herself and she loves to inspire and educate about the arts. Her interests are mostly arts related, but within that realm, there is no limit. Chauntee hopes to continue to her education at Berklee College of Music and move to Los Angeles in the next 5 years.