This past July, Stefan made his debut at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, performing Mozart's A major violin concerto under the baton of Carlos Kalmar. The Chicago Tribune raved, "Neither screaming fire truck sirens nor fierce humidity could mar the smooth finish of Jackiw's Mozart. The sweet-faced, 29-year-old soloist sustained long phrases with a bright, pure, focused tone. Particularly winning was Jackiw's suave cantabile treatment of Mozart's slow movement, here truly an operatic aria without words. Fingers and bow a blur, the fiddler flawlessly whipped through the "Turkish" portion of the finale. He deserved a medal of valor.” The Chicago Sun Times reported, "his was a strong debut even without the extra points he earned for enduring the weather. Jackiw played … with passion, character and precision. But it was his overall success at making this whole early Classical work sound rich and Romantic without ever seeming mannered at all that was most noteworthy. He’s surely, in his late 20s, someone we’ll be hearing more from."
