On May 5th, a day before his 25th birthday, Stefan Jackiw made his debut with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis, playing Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail declared, "Stefan Jackiw has risen swiftly in the past decade to challenge the foremost talents of our day – Ehnes, Tetzlaff, Kavakos, Hahn – by the quality of his insight and skill. He played the Mozart like an angel. The slow movement is in itself music from heaven, but Jackiw joined it on its level, simply, without the least pretension or show. The result was about as pure and as close to perfection as music can get, and very moving indeed. The outer movements were similarly flawless and unforced in their contrasting brilliance and joy" (read the review).
The Toronto Star reported, "from the moment Jackiw's bow struck the first notes, it was clear why audiences get so excited about this artist. Here was a mop-headed poet of the violin in full rhetorical flight... It is hard to imagine hearing this popular concerto played any more beautifully" (read the review).
