Last August, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced that it had filled two prominent jobs. Stephen Williamson, a seasoned performer who’d been with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2003, would be the new principal clarinet.
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Jeong had been at the Philharmonic less than a full season. And that was her first job out of Juilliard, where she’d just completed a master’s degree. When she took her seat next to concertmaster Robert Chen’s on the CSO stage last September, she was 24 years old.
Jeong’s parents came to the U.S. from Korea, where her mother had trained as a pianist and piano teacher. They stopped on the east coast (where Stephanie was born). At three, when they moved to Northbrook, she was already taking Suzuki lessons. She was seven when Betty Haag signed her up for a master class with Aaron Rosand (most recently in the news for selling his 18th-century Guarneri violin for $10 million), and after that, Jeong began commuting to Rosand’s home in Connecticut for monthly lessons and practicing five or six hours a day.
“My mom asked whether I felt she forced it on me. I’m sure there were times when I didn’t want to be practicing. But kids need a little push. I don’t regret one moment. And just because I have this amazing job, it doesn’t mean that I can get comfortable and lazy, and just feel safe. I need to stay focused, keep up my practicing, and make sure that I’m still trying to improve myself as a musician every day, just as I did when I was a student.”
