Dear Friends,
Hoping this finds you well, I am pleased to share the summary of my Fall '21 activities with you.
As the concert halls have slowly reopened this Fall, I am happy to have returned to the stage, performing at New York’s Town Hall, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, and DROM NYC. More recently I gave a solo recital in Sun Valley, ID, raising funds for the Hunger Coalition. In preparation for the performance I was interviewed by Eye on Sun Valley and the Idaho Mountain Express, talking about my childhood behind the Iron Curtain, the excitement of working with the brilliant students at Music Performance Program Columbia University, my inspirations and mentors, and my pandemic collaborations.
Last month I had a great pleasure of giving a piano masterclass at the Manhattan School of Music. Having received my Doctor of Musical Arts degree from MSM in 2008, I was thrilled to return in the role of a guest artist.
I have recently recorded a six-part lecture demonstration on the keyboard music of J.S. Bach. It will soon be released by tonebase, where I join the roster of pianists as legendary as Garrick Ohlsson, Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, and Leon Fleischer.
In addition, over the past few months I also delivered talks at the Manhattan School of Music (“A Word on Ornamentation''), Music Educators Association of New Jersey (“Debussy's Many Worlds of Sound”), Pompton Valley Music Teachers Association, (“Bach's Two-Part Inventions as the Method for Composition, Performance, and Communication”), Emeritus Professors in Columbia (“The Piano Music of Margaret Bonds and Thomas 'Blind Tom' Wiggins”).
My Bach@Home series now has over fifty episodes of educational music videos. The series, which started out with the focus on keyboard works by J.S. Bach, has more recently highlighted music by women and composers of color. It is all available for free on my YouTube channel.
My pandemic album releases, Debussy on Fifth Avenue (recorded using Yamaha Disklavier technology), Hip-Hopsichord (written by Gene Pritsker for the harpsichord and samplestra, a written out hip-hop track), and Mozart (selected works for solo piano), have been enthusiastically received by the press. Here are a few highlights from the latest review of my Mozart album, by ConcertoNet:
“One of the most innovative, even radical classical keyboardists in the U.S.”
“Columbia University professor by day, musical sorceress by night.”
“A modern, even dangerous edge to her playing which lifts this album far beyond the humdrum.”
“Baczewska presents the subsequent variations like a series of mystifying card tricks.
“Pianist and composer seem to be working together.”
“Elegant in a youthful sort of way, with an indefinable modern sensibility.”
For more reviews and the music, all of which is available on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube, I invite you to visit the discography section of my website.
My first concerts of 2022 will take me to Texas! Aside from the music of Chopin, the program will feature music by women: Florence Price, Clara Schumann, and Hiromi Uehara. Do visit my calendar of events - if you are nearby, it will be lovely to see you!
Wishing you and your loved ones a healthy and restorative holiday season,
Magdalena
