From 1968 to 1969 she attended Oberlin College, but ended up obtaining bachelor of music degree from the Juilliard School in 1972[1] where she was Dorothy DeLay and Ivan Galamian scholar.
[2] Between 1972 and 1974, she played her first violin at the Amici Quartet of Binghamton University from which she obtained her master's degree in 1974.
Since 1980s, she is an assistant principal violinist at the Saint Paul Symphony Orchestra in Minnesota.
She also had appeared with other musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, Shlomo Mintz, Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Doane, Seyda Ruga Suzuki, and William Preucil.
[2] In May 1999 Chao and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra had played Piano Quintet by Johannes Brahms on Minnesota Public Radio, along with pianist Lydia Artymiw, violinists Frieda Fan and Elsa Nilsson and violist Peter Howard.