Chauncey Patterson began his professional career at the age of twenty-three as Assistant Principal Viola of the Colorado Symphony in Denver. He was eventually appointed Principal Viola by Music Director Philippe Entremont. His next post was Principal Viola of the Buffalo Philharmonic under the direction of Semyon Bychkov. During his stay in Buffalo, Mr. Patterson was offered and accepted the Viola position in the award winning Miami String Quartet. During his fifteen year tenure, the MSQ garnered awards in the quartet competitions of London and Evian in addition to being the first string quartet to win the Concert Artist Guild New York Competition. The quartet recorded a number of CD’s, most notable The Ginastera Quartets, The Quartets of Pēteris Vasks and The Saint-Saens and Faure String Quartets for the BMG Conifer label. The MSQ toured the US extensively, playing at virtually every high profile venue including performances at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl. Foreign travels (both with and without the MSQ) have taken Mr. Patterson to Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Panama, Brazil, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, England, and the Netherlands. He has shared the chamber music stage with such distinguished artists as: Gil Shaham, Garrick Ohlsson, Cho-Liang Lin, Robert Chen, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Paul Neubauer, Aaron Rosand, Menahem Pressler, Peter Wiley, Andre-Michel Schub, Bill Preucil, Ida Kavafian, Lynn Harrell, Arto Noras, Mark Johnson, Eugene Druckman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Roberto Diaz, Mark Peskanov, Horacio Gutierrez, Pepe Romero, and Robert Vernon among others. Following his tenure with the MSQ, Mr. Patterson served as interim violist of the world renowned Fine Arts Quartet. He currently resides in Miami, Florida, where he serves as Solo Viola of the Florida Grand Opera, Principal Viola of the Palm Beach Symphony, Violist of the Bergonzi Quartet, and a member of Miami’s ground breaking chamber orchestra Nu Deco Ensemble.
Education has been a major component of Chauncey’s career. His faculty affiliations include: The Cleveland Institute of Music, Blossom School of Music, Kent State University, Hartt School of Music, Encore School for Strings, Eastern Music Festival, University of Charleston (W.V.), University of Denver, New World School of the Arts, Florida International University, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He currently holds the position of Associate Professor / Director of Chamber Music at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida
Chauncey began playing viola at the age of eight in the public school system of Burlington, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Curtis Institute, where he studied with Ann Woodward, Robert Vernon, Karen Tuttle, and Michael Tree respectively.
