Violinist Stefan Jackiw, who will perform with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore on Thursday, is a young talent accomplished far beyond his 25 years of age.
His competence and intuition serve him well, especially when interpreting the subtle nuances in composer Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, a favorite piece that he will be performing in concert with the BSO.
If the saying is true that “it takes one to know one,” then the praise from his peers — many quite a bit older and more experienced — is indeed a welcome compliment.
“Jackiw is a particular favorite in Baltimore,” BSO concertmaster Jonathan Carney said. “Mendelssohn’s wonderful works need maturity to play. He’ll bring a lot of poise and beauty to the piece.”
As in so much of the classical repertoire for strings, Jackiw feels there are many different layers to Mendelssohn’s String Concerto.
“There’s a youthful joy and exuberance to [the piece], but also there’s a sort of a sadness, longing and restlessness. That combination is a very delicate balance to strike,” he said. “What’s really amazing about the [music] Mendelssohn wrote when he was 13 and 14 years old, is that it sounds like a composer’s later work … not just youthful pieces but, as in his Opus 13, [pieces] filled with doubt and a kind of yearning that gives me chills every time I hear it.”
Jackiw (who toured with the BSO in 2002) has, he said, “a soft spot” for the orchestra because they were one of the first he ever played with at the age of 17 and, he said, “made me feel like they took me under their wing.” His joy at returning to Baltimore and Strathmore for the first time since 2008, when he performed Brahms’ Violin Concerto to rave reviews, is palpable.
As for Mendelssohn’s works, he is convinced the composer had already found his voice while in his teens. Not unlike Jackiw himself.
Also on the evening’s program are John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic Symphony,” a symphonic score from his opera of the same name, which premiered in August 2007 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”
