 Stephanie
is a Korean-Canadian composer, arranger, and classically trained
pianist. Stephanie recently worked on a few pieces for Olympic in
Beijing this year(2008) written by a top Hollywood film composer, Jeff
Rona, who is well-known for Lion King, Gladiator, Mission Impossible 2
and so on.
Stephanie has been walking on a very interesting journey. She is a
multi-talented musician, a figure skater, and an actress. She talks
about her life, her faith in God, her visions and future plans.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Stephanie moved to Vancouver, Canada while
she was attending Hanguk University of Foreign Studies known as the most
famous university in South Korea for foreign languages. In 2001,
Stephanie won the Berklee World Scholarship Tour in Seattle. She decided
to continue her education in film scoring & composition at Berklee
College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
She started playing the piano at the age of 3 and took her first piano
lesson at the age of 5. In 1992, Stephanie was one of the youngest
pianists to perform with the Korean Philharmonic Orchestra. She also won
numerous piano competitions, performed at recitals, and master classes
with well-respected pianists such as Dr. Pamela Mia Paul from the
Julliard School of Music, and Toifl Miar from Austria at an early age.
However, during her teenage years, Stephanie didn't find any more
interest in performing music. "I felt tired of practicing same pieces
over and over again, for hours and hours. At one point, I felt there had
to have been some other way to express myself through music." Around the
same time, Stephanie had a new found passion for figure skating and was
training to join Korean National Team. Stephanie briefly appeared on
Coca Cola commercial in South Korea with her coach in 1991. “My dad had
produced many commercials for many years as producer at MBC (Munhwa
Broadcasting Corporation) which lead me to my first experience as an
actress. I was obsessed with figure skating. I practiced like 15 hours
during weekend. When I was skating I felt as if I was flying. I felt a
sense of freedom. I felt as if I had found my calling in life. My
parents were very upset when I told them I'm going to give up on music
and pursue my dream as a figure skater."
In 1993, Stephanie first had a chance to visit U.S for a short term
training session with her coach Yong-Min Lee who was a gold medalist in
the 1988 Asian Games. At the time, Stephanie had to work with
choreographers on her short program for the winter competition in Korea.
Interestingly enough, that's when Stephanie found her interest in
writing music rather than just performing them.
"I had been struggling for many years trying to figure out how I could
use my talent. During a conversation with my choreographer regarding the
selection of music & editing, an epiphany! This is it! This is what I
was meant to be doing! I'm supposed to write music!” |
F.A.M.E'US: “What is the most recent
project you have done?”
Stephanie: “I orchestrated a concert score called ‘Songs of the sea’
written for Olympic in Beijing this year (2008). And I'm currently
working on a project with Danny Jung who is the most famous saxophonist
in South Korea.”
F.A.M.E'US: “What was the biggest challenge in getting to where you are
now?”
Stephanie: ”You know, being in this film and music industry itself is
very tough and very competitive. Some people think that I'm lucky to be
where I am. But I believe there’s no such thing as luck. You work hard
to achieve your goals. I've been through many ups and downs when I first
started working in this business. The biggest challenge for me was to
have faith in myself even though things weren't going very well. It
wasn't about competing against numerous talented composers out there. It
was about fighting the fight of faith in me.”
F.A.M.S'US: ”Future plans?”
Stephanie: ”I do have a lot of plans. I do not exactly plan things in
advance. But I wish to move to LA eventually and keep working with
talented musicians. That would be my ideal goal for now.”
F.A.M.S'US: ”What instrument is your main tool for composing?”
Stephanie: ”I've been playing the piano for over 20 years. I write
everything on piano.”
F.A.M.S'US: ”What is your favorite genre of music?”
Stephanie: ”I love classical which I've listened to since I was very
young. But I listened to pretty much all kinds of genres these days.
Berklee had been a huge influence on jazz, contemporary music.”
F.A.M.S'US: ”Berklee College of Music is very well-known school in Asia
too? What was it like to be in the school?”
 Stephanie:
”You get to meet musicians from all around the world. They are so
talented. We always play music, listen to music, and analyze music. All
we do is music and everyone's happy! I absolutely enjoyed Berklee.”
F.A.M.E'US: ”I heard you are an actress as well. Are you going to pursue
your career in acting as well?”
Stephanie: ”You know it's hard to be an actress and a composer at the
same time. I found myself more passion in music and this is what I'm
going to do.”
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