Praising her "world-class playing," The American Record Guide calls Polish-born pianist and harpsichordist Magdalena Baczewska (pronounced BaCHEVska) "clearly a rising star." Combining profound musicianship, passion for educating and a gift of public speaking, Baczewska is increasingly known for her innovative recital programming ideas and making her audiences think. "Baczewska enlightens…" wrote Greg Stepanich in the Palm Beach Arts Paper after her 2009 Miami appearance. She was described as "imaginative and instructive, a player of taste, purity of tone, and clarity of line." The same author further noted her "admirable sensitivity, impressive technique and ability to muster plenty of interpretive fire…" Magdalena treats each performance not as a mere showcase of her talent but a gift of knowledge and perspective. Considering herself a musical sommelier, she finds inventive pairings of repertoire and sheds new light on her audiences' favorite music. In 2001, she has started playing the harpsichord and exploring a wide range of early (pre-Baroque) keyboard repertoire, which she performs both on the piano and the harpsichord. Her repertoire also includes works of livings composers, with several commissions and world premieres. Her recordings and performances, hailed as "eloquent and technically flawless" (The Washington Post), have been broadcast on major radio stations across America and Europe, including NPR, WQXR, and Voice of America. Magdalena holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music (under Constance Keene), and a Bachelor and Master's Degree from the Mannes College of Music, New School University (under Jerome Rose). She graduated three times summa cum laude, honored not only for her achievements in music, but also for academic excellence. Her doctoral dissertation, In Search for Bach's Cantabile: The Role and Aspects of Oratory and Singing in Keyboard Interpretation, was published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing (2009) and is available on Amazon.com. She is a faculty member at the John J. Cali School of Music, Montclair State University in New Jersey, as well as the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City. She was among the jurors of the International Chopin Competition at Columbia University. She is also a published music critic, writing for the New York Concert Review. Growing up in a family of musicians, Magdalena started piano instruction at the age of five, and at twelve made her orchestra debut. She resides in New York City, where she came at the age of eighteen, upon an invitation of Jerome Rose to study at the Mannes College. As a winner of international piano competitions, she has appeared worldwide as a solo artist and in orchestral performances. As the laureate of the Dorothy MacKenzie Recognition Award, Magdalena made her Carnegie Hall debut at the Weill Recital Hall in 2004. Roman Markowicz of The Weekend (New York, 2004) marveled at her "superb technical skills and unpretentious, yet greatly sophisticated musical vision of each composition," praising her "high musicianship and refined musical taste" and summing up the performance as "highly sophisticated and truly admirable." In 2008, Magdalena released her first CDs, "A Tribute to Glenn Gould," containing Bach's Goldberg Variations and R. Strauss' Sonata op. 5, the first and last piano works ever recorded by Gould. James Harrington of the American Record Guide (September 2009) called it "an uncommonly good recording," and Jed Distler of the Gramophone (July 2010) described the Variations as "beautiful and intimately scaled." Magdalena's second CD, "Music for Dreams" was conceived in collaboration with BLUESLEEP, a medical team specialized in research and treatment of sleep disorders. For more information about Music for Dreams visitwww.BluesleepMusic.com In May 2011, Magdalena received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Polish Minister of Culture, Mr. Bogdan Zdrojewski.