Magdalena Stern-Baczewska with China National Symphony
February 5, 2026

The Art of the Prelude

Magdalena Stern-Baczewska
SNF RENDEZ-VOUS
Reid Hall | 4, rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris
Free, registration required
Register here

Proof of registration, via a QR code on your phone or on paper, will be required to enter Reid Hall. Entry will be refused to those who are not registered.

Please note that access will not be permitted 15 minutes after the start of the event.

This event will be held in English.

To be notified of upcoming Institute for Ideas and Imagination events, we invite you to sign up for our monthly newsletter.

In this lecture-recital, pianist and harpsichordist Magdalena Baczewska explores the history of composing and performing 17th- and 18th-century keyboard preludes, tracing the development of the genre over time. The program will feature a wide range of keyboard preludes, including works by Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, Louis Couperin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Fryderyk Chopin, and Claude Debussy.

Magdalena Stern-Baczewska is a Polish-American concert pianist, harpsichordist, and educator. Since 2014, she has served as the Director of the Music Performance Program and Senior Lecturer in Music at Columbia University. She has performed as a soloist with major orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra and has appeared in concerts with notable artists like Joshua Bell and Tan Dun. Baczewska’s discography spans Baroque, Romantic, and contemporary music, including collaborations with DJs and Hip-hop and EDM artists. Together with the Bluesleep medical team, which specializes in treating sleep disorders, she has produced the best-selling Music for Dreams album series. As a Yamaha artist, she has pioneered the use of Yamaha Disklavier technology in both teaching and recording. A passionate advocate for equal access to the joy of music, she engages in outreach and community initiatives as a teaching artist for Tonebase, Lecturer in Residence for the Grand Piano Series, and Grandmentor for the Musical Mentors Collaborative.

The Rendez-Vous de l’Institut Series is generously supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

UPCOMING EVENTS

OCTOBER 9, 2025
The Book as Extractive Technology/Practice
Joseph Howley
SNF Rendez-Vous
OCTOBER 16, 2025
Between Fiction and Non-Fiction
Payal Kapadia
SNF Rendez-Vous
OCTOBER 23, 2025
The Politics of Play
Oulipo and the Legacy of French Literary Ludics
We use cookies to enhance your experience of visiting this website. Find out more.
REJECT