A Kansas City Star preview for Stefan Jackiw's June concerts of Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony encapsulates the violinist's rise: "Jackiw, 26, is one of those ridiculously talented prodigies … He was a soloist with the Boston Pops at age 12 and three years later made his European debut with the Philharmonia of London … He attended Harvard, where he majored in psychology before switching to music. In 2002, he received an Avery Fisher career grant, and over the years he has garnered almost universal critical acclaim."
The young violnist’s packed summer includes concerts at the Aspen Music Festival with pianist Joyce Yang and violinist Daniel Hope (July 16, 19), an all-Brahms recital for Maine's Bay Chamber Concerts (July 21), the Sibelius concerto with Gerard Schwarz at North Carolina's Eastern Music Festival (July 23), and a return to the Seattle Chamber Music Society where “Jackiw has won over Seattle crowds with his boyish looks and sublime playing." (The Gathering Note)
Jackiw (pronounced jack-EEV) toured Finland and Ireland before embarking on a June tour of Korea – his fourth – with Ensemble Ditto, a wildly popular "boy band" of chamber musicians who bring classical music to broad audiences. The intrepid frequent flyer returns to Asia at the end of the summer for an epic fifteen-date tour with the Asian Youth Symphony under James Judd, where he will perform Sarasate, Saint-Saëns and Sibelius in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan (Aug. 6-28).
