Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hires Two New Principals
The CSO recently added two new musicians to its ranks. The hires are Ricardo Muti’s first official appointments since becoming music director in 2010; Muti also hired oboist Lora Schaefer in 2009 as the music director designate. Violinist Stephanie Jeong, formerly of the New York Philharmonic, will assume the position of associate concertmaster, and clarinetist Stephen Williamson, principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2003, has already joined the orchestra as its principal clarinet.
Bio for Stephanie Jeong:
Stephanie Jeong joins the CSO in September 2011 at the start of the 2011/12 season. She grew up in Chicago, where she studied with Betty Haag Kuhnke at the Betty Haag Academy of Performing Arts. In 1997, at the age of 9, Jeong became one of the youngest students ever accepted to The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Aaron Rosand. She received her bachelor’s degree from Curtis and recently completed her master’s degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Cho-Liang Lin and Ronald Copes. The top prize winner and recipient of the Best Paganini Concerto Prize of the 2008 Paganini Violin Competition in Italy, Jeong made her solo debut at age 12 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as winner of its Feinburg Competition, and with The Philadelphia Orchestra as winner of its Albert M. Greenfield Competition. She has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 2010.
Bio for Stephen Williamson:
Stephen Williamson joins the CSO this month on the Orchestra’s European tour. He has served as principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2003, and has performed with many of New York’s most illustrious ensembles. He also serves as principal clarinetist with Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra, and is on the faculty of Columbia University and the Mannes College of Music in New York City, as well as at the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan. Williamson was the Grand Prize Winner of the1994 Boosey & Hawkes/ Buffet Crampon First Annual North American Clarinet Competition. Other past awards include the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition. Williamson received his Bachelor’s Degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School. As a Fulbright Scholar, he furthered his studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, Germany where he collaborated with various members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Bios from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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