Magdalena Stern-Baczewska Joins the Institute for Ideas and Imagination as a 2026 Fellow

This Spring, Magdalena joins the cohort of Fellows of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. 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. During her Fellowship and through the study and performance 17th- and 18th-century unmeasured preludes, Stern-Baczewska will connect this form of improvisation with modern performance techniques, bridging the gap between historical and contemporary interpretations.