Her first public appearance as a violinist was at the age of 2 years and three months.

Her parents and grandfathers were violinists, and her maternal grandfather was from Bohemia.

She is a lineal descendant of Aquila Chase, a Massachusetts Bay Colonist and co-founder of Newbury, Massachusetts.  Chase Bank is named for Salmon Portland Chase, who was a Supreme Court Judge and Secretary of the Treasure under Abraham Lincoln, among other accomplishments.  His great-great-great-grandfather ("Ensign" Moses Chase, 1663-1743) was her great-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather.

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 tap-dancing team (who performed as a horse) were among the competitors.

Her first appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was when she was nine years old, playing Mozart’s Concerto No.3.

Also when she was nine 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.

She first performed Paganini’s Concerto in D when she was eleven years old.

When she was 13, she was twice a guest on David Frost’s television show, appearing with Joan Baez and Tiny Tim!

Her Carnegie Hall debut was at age eighteen, playing Prokofiev’s Concerto in G Minor.

She lived in Belgium while she studied with the legendary violinist Arthur Grumiaux.

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.

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.

Her violin was formerly owned by her mother and has been in her family since 1946.

She is one of only a few violin soloists who performs on both period and modern-style violins.

She was featured on Italian television playing Paganini on Paganini’s own legendary “Cannon” violin, made by Joseph Guarnerius del Gesù.

She maintains over fifty different concerti in “launch-ready” status.  Among her favorites are those by Sibelius, Beethoven, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.

She performed three different major violin concerti by American composers in one week: Bernstein's Serenade, Barber's Concerto, and Menotti's Concerto.

When she was five years old, an IQ test result placed her in the category of genius.

She writes her own cadenzas for violin concerti by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

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. 

She has performed concerts in over twenty-five countries, including the Kingdom of Nepal.

She made the world premiere recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on period instruments, and wrote her own cadenzas.

At a “Marathon in Manila,” she played the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven Concerti in the same concert.

She played Bach’s Chaconne on the terrace of a maharajah's palace in India.

Her niece Becki Newton played Amanda on ABC's hit series Ugly Betty, and will star in the upcoming Goodwin Games on Fox.

Her nephew Matt Newton starred in the indie film Poster Boy.

In the game of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon;" Stephanie attended the Meadowmount School with Lori Singer, who starred with him in Footloose.

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.

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.)