Stefan Jackiw

Stefan Jackiw (/stɛˈfɑːn dʒæˈkiːv/; born 1985) is an American classical violinist.

Biography

Stefan Jackiw was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Korean mother and a father of Ukrainian origin, both physicists. His mother, So-Young Pi, teaches at Boston University, and his father, Roman Jackiw, at MIT (emeritus as of 2013).

His surname is Ukrainian. He is the grandson of the late Korean poet Pi Chun-deuk.

Jackiw started playing the violin at the age of four, when he was given a small instrument that a child of family friends had outgrown. As a young child he took Suzuki method lessons at the Longy School of Music. Subsequently, his teachers have included Zinaida Gilels, whom he credits with providing a secure technical foundation, the French violinist Michèle Auclair, with whom he began studying at age 12, and former Cleveland Quartet first violinist Donald Weilerstein.

Unlike many young musicians, who attend schools for the arts or are home-schooled, Jackiw went through the academic school system, attending The Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury. After high school he attended Harvard University, starting as a psychology major, then switching to a concentration in music. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007. The same year, he received an Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory (NEC), which he had been attending concurrently.