Chicago Tribune John von Rhein column [Chicago Tribune]

Nov. 29--If New York's classical music life is feeling the effects of talent-drain just about now, blame it on Chicago.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra recently raided both the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic of two of its most valued musicians.

Stephen Williamson, principal clarinet of the Met orchestra since 2003, left in May to later assume the same position with the CSO, following in the footsteps of his former Met orchestra colleague, oboist Eugene Izotov, who had gone from Met principal oboe to CSO principal oboe in 2006.

And violinist Stephanie Jeong, who had been a member of the philharmonic for less than a season, jumped ship to become the CSO's associate concertmaster. Both appointments took effect in August.

As the first major hires of Riccardo Muti's CSO tenure, each new hire soon will be putting his or her stamp on the sound and style of the orchestra.

Both Williamson and Jeong are products of New York'sJuilliard School of Music -- one of the world's foremost incubators of world-class musical talent -- and each holds a master's degree from that institution. When I sat down with them for separate interviews recently, I found their personalities different though complementary: The clarinetist is as hearty and outgoing as the violinist is soft-spoken and shy.

What unites them is their appetite for hard work and their desire to make music with an orchestra whose clearly defined sound and closely guarded traditions each respects.

Here's something else they have in common: Both Williamson and Jeong had to deliver while barely out of the box.

The clarinetist's very first concerts with Muti and the CSO were in late August at the prestigious Salzburg Festival, where the orchestra began its most recent European tour. Muti's tour repertory was rife with pieces containing big clarinet solos that would test Williamson's mettle in front of some of Europe's most sophisticated concert audiences.

"The tour was a great way to start off, particularly since touring is the best way to get to know one's colleagues," the 41-year-old Williamson told me. When I asked him what the four months he has been playing in the CSO have felt like, he smiled and replied, "Exciting and nerve-wracking! But the support I've gotten so far from the other musicians and maestro Muti has been wonderful."

Jeong's turn in the hot seat came right here in Chicago, in early October, when she had been on the job little more than a week. Concertmaster Robert Chen, with whom she shares the first violin stand, fell ill only hours before Muti and the orchestra were to perform Liszt's "A Faust Symphony." This big, sprawling Romantic work requires virtuoso playing from everyone, especially the section principals. Jeong went on as concertmaster, kept her cool and got her own solo bow.

Jeong radiates a gratitude similar to Williamson's when she reflects on Muti's leadership ("he's just so inspiring'), the backing she's received from orchestra members ("they couldn't be more collegial") and playing in an orchestra of such artistic pedigree as the CSO.

"As a musician, your job is doing what you love to do," said the violinist, 24, who grew up in Chicago and made her solo debut with the CSO at age 12. "It doesn't get much better than when you're playing with the Chicago Symphony. In fact," she added, "it doesn't feel like work at all."

Both Williamson and Jeong went through more than one stringent audition before being selected to become a fulltime member of the CSO.

The clarinetist had what he calls his "lucky rock" (on which is lettered the word "believe") in his pocket during his tryout. He says he went in determined to give it his best shot. And he did. Because he had a 6 p.m.1 p.m. flight back to New York.

Jeong had auditioned with the CSO and the New York Philharmonic at the same time, in October 2010, and had already advanced to the semi-finals in Chicago when the philharmonic hired her. Figuring she had nothing to lose, she went into the final round of auditions here without breaking a sweat -- and wound up as the last fiddler standing.

Neither Williamson nor Jeong can remember a time when he or she didn't have a musical instrument in his or her hand.

Growing up in Austin, Tex., young Stephen began studying the clarinet at age 9, at the urging of his father, a respected band director. Playing transcriptions of the classics in symphonic bands during his pre-teen and adolescent years gave him a stronger technical foundation than he might otherwise have had, he says today.

Williamson and the clarinet were inseparable in those days. "I would come home from school, shut the door to my room and just practice for hours on end," he recalls. "My parents would have to order me to stop and go to bed."

He went on to receive a bachelor's degree and a performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., before going on to Juilliard. It just so happens that his idol among clarinet players was Larry Combs, a fellow Eastman grad whose long tenure as CSO principal clarinet ended with his retirement in 2008, leaving vacant the post Williamson would fill three years later.

A native of New Jersey who grew up in north suburban Northbrook, Jeong took up the violin at age three before enrolling at the Betty Haag Academy of Performing Arts in northwest suburban Buffalo Grove. At nine she became one of the youngest students ever accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where her violin teachers included Aaron Rosand. She later pursued a graduate degree at Juilliard as a pupil of Cho-Liang Lin and Ronald Copes.

Serving, in effect, as co-concertmaster, Jeong shares key leadership responsibilities with Chen. Along with individual duties, the two of them help to insure the first and second violins mesh as a musical unit. Jeong also spells Chen on subscription weeks when he's away or not scheduled to perform. (Chen, it will be recalled, alternated as concertmaster with Samuel Magad from 1999 until 2007 when he became the CSO's sole leader following the latter's retirement from an orchestra in which he had played for 48 years.)

Choosing the right person to fill a prominent leadership slot in a major orchestra is a high-stakes proposition. Beyond superior playing ability, there is the question of how well he or she will be able to subsume his or her musical persona to the needs of the section, and, by extension, the needs of the ensemble as a whole.

The CSO annals are full of examples of musicians who have tried and failed to master this tricky and complex balancing act. Which is not the least of the reasons why the progress of Williamson and Jeong will be so closely watched in the months and seasons ahead.

jvonrhein@tribune.com

Twitter @johnvonrhein

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