Magdalena Stern-Baczewska

Director, Music Performance Program
Senior Lecturer in Music
Faculty Advisor to Columbia-Juilliard Exchange (2023–24)
MPP Committee (2023–24)
Concert pianist and harpsichordist
Office Address: 
618 Dodge Hall
(212) 854-1257

Hailed by the press as “One of the most innovative, even radical classical keyboardists in the U.S," Magdalena Baczewska [pronounced ba-CHEV-ska] is a concert pianist, harpsichordist, recording artist, producer, speaker, and educator. She is the Director of the Music Performance Program and Senior Lecturer in Music at Columbia University. She has performed with prestigious orchestras worldwide, including the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and China National Symphony. Collaborating with Oscar and Grammy Award-winning artists like Joshua Bell and Charles Fox, she has also toured extensively with composer Tan Dun, performing at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Guangzhou Opera House, Beijing National Center for Performing Arts, Davies Symphony Hall, and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, among others. As a recitalist, Baczewska focuses on historical performance practice, and has earned acclaim for her double-bill performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, on the harpsichord and the piano. 

 

Her critically acclaimed discography encompasses various genres, from Baroque and Romantic solo music to collaborations with techno and hip-hop artists. She has produced the bestselling series of albums, "Music for Dreams," in collaboration with the Bluesleep medical team, researching and treating sleep disorders.

 

Baczewska has given talks and master classes around the world: Beijing Central Conservatory, New York University, International Keyboard Institute, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Manhattan School of Music. As a Yamaha Artist, she is among the pioneers of long-distance teaching using the cutting edge Yamaha Disklavier technology. At Columbia, she enjoys a busy academic life, teaching Music Humanities (a part of Columbia’s famed Core Curriculum), and the Performance Seminar, a course she designed for top classical musicians on campus. Embracing the dual role of an educator and administrator, Baczewska heads the Music Performance Program, mentoring and providing performance opportunities for nearly 500 student musicians, including members of the elite Columbia-Juilliard Exchange.

As an avid advocate of equal access to musical enrichment, Baczewska is committed to outreach, bringing music to non-specialist audiences. She has produced “Bach@Home,” a series of public-facing lecture performances, featuring music of both established and underrepresented composers. She also lectures for tonebase, a digital platform democratizing access to high-level music education. Born in Poland, she is a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage for promoting Polish culture abroad. 

Columbia Music Performance Program

LIVE: Bach "Goldberg Variations"; Magdalena Baczewska, Harpsichord and Piano

Chopin: Nocturnes, Op. 9, No. 1 & Op. 55, No. 2; Magdalena Baczewska, piano

J. S. Bach: Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, arr. Hess. Magdalena Baczewska, piano LIVE in NYC