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Her
first public appearance as a violinist was at the age of
2 years and three months.
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Her parents and grandfathers were violinists, and her
maternal grandfather was from Bohemia.
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She
appeared at age six on the Ted Mack Original Amateur
Hour, and went on to become a three-time winner. A
mother-and-daughter tapdancing team (who performed as a
horse) were among the competitors.
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Her first
appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was
when she was eight years old, playing Mozart’s
Concerto No.3.
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Also when
she was eight years old, she played the Bach Double
Concerto with Jack Benny. He wanted her to go to
Hollywood and appear as a regular in his shows, but her
mother said no.
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She first
performed Paganini’s Concerto in D when she
was eleven years old.
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When she
was 13, she was twice a guest on David Frost’s television
show, appearing with Joan Baez and Tiny Tim!
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Her
Carnegie Hall debut was at age eighteen, playing
Prokofiev’s Concerto in G Minor.
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She lived
in Belgium while she studied with the legendary violinist
Arthur Grumiaux.
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She was a
guest soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic when it
made its first tour of the People’s Republic of China,
playing Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. Afterwards, she
climbed the Great Wall.
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In 1992,
she brought her 1742 Petrus Guarnerius violin back to
the old workshop address of its Venetian maker for its
250-year (or 7,000,000,000,000-note, whichever comes first)
checkup.
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Her
violin was formerly owned by her mother and has been in her
family since 1946.
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She is
one of only a few violinist soloists who performs on both
period and modern-style violins.
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In 1994,
she was featured on Italian television playing Paganini
on Paganini’s own legendary “Cannon” violin, made by
Joseph Guarnerius del Gesů.
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She
maintains over fifty different concerti in “launch-ready”
status. Among her favorites are those by Sibelius,
Beethoven, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
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She
performed three different major violin concerti by
American composers in one week: Bernstein's Serenade,
Barber's Concerto, and Menotti's Concerto. This happened to
be the week that the 1991 Gulf War started.
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When she
was five years old, an IQ test result placed her in the
category of genius.
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She writes her own cadenzas for violin concerti by Haydn,
Mozart and Beethoven.
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In the
Spring of 2000 she performed 20 Vivaldi Concerti in a
three-day marathon with the Handel & Haydn Society in
Boston, sharing solo and orchestral duties with three other
violinists.
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She has
performed concerts in over twenty-five countries, including the Kingdom of Nepal.
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She made
the world premiere recording of Beethoven’s Violin
Concerto on period instruments, and wrote her own
cadenzas.
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At a
“Marathon in Manila,” she played the Tchaikovsky and
Beethoven Concerti in the same concert.
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She played
Bach’s Chaconne on the terrace of a maharajah's
palace in India.
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Her niece Becki
Newton plays Amanda on ABC's hit series Ugly
Betty.
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Her nephew Matt
Newton starred in the indie film Poster Boy.
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In the
game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon;" Stephanie
attended the Meadowmount School with Lori Singer, who
starred with him in Footloose.
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She was
on tour during the entire 1991 Gulf War.
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She was
at the top of her high school graduating class at The
Professional Children's School in New York, earning a
Governor's Citation for academic merit and awards in
Mathematics, Science and History.
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Last and
perhaps least, she was listed on an Internet survey as
number 2 of the “Top Ten Sexiest Classical Performers"
(Cecilia Bartoli was number 1 on this particular list.)
