Chopin Salon @ Home: Magdalena Baczewska
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Since 1977, the Chopin Foundation has been headquartered in Miami, a delightfully tropical destination which has now hosted ten National Chopin Piano Competitions. The Foundation’s reach however, extends nationally with the help of regional councils currently located in Seattle, San Francisco and Barboursville, VA. For this edition of the Chopin Salons @ Home we are pleased to feature one of the special Salon Concerts that was organized by Robert Joskowiak at the Barboursville Vineyard in Virgina. “As you know, Chopin was stage shy” said Mr. Joskwiak, who is the Virginia Council’s President. “He thrived playing for small audiences in salon-like settings. This is why for the last fifteen years, we have hosted concerts limited to 90 people with formal attire in intimate venues. We serve champagne, wine, and hors d'oeuvres allowing the audience to mingle, meet new friends, and share feelings about the performance. Prof. Magdalena Baczewska's performance exemplifies the perfect artist for our venue. She plays with unique tenderness and fluidity rarely seen in younger pianists. Magdalena's interpretation created that rare feeling of sadness and melancholy (zal in Polish). Baczewska succeded in pouring Chopin's emotions onto us all! What a memorable evening it was!”
The Magic of Nocturnes
“My experience at ‘Chopin in Barboursville’ was absolutely magical,” said Magdalena Baczewska. “The concert took place at the gorgeous Barboursville Vineyard. The dress code was 'black tie' and everyone looked just great. As a fashion enthusiast, I had a dress made in New York City by a Turkish designer Selma Karaca, especially for the occasion. Robert Joskowiak and his wife Cindy worked tirelessly for months to assure everything was perfect. I think Chopin himself would have been pleased with the very elegant atmosphere of the evening.”
We asked Magdalena her thoughts on the Nocturnes: “Playing the music of Fryderyk Chopin has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. To be near something so exquisite, perfectly crafted and highly expressive, being able to communicate with true genius through the musical score and the keyboard, never ceases to give me goosebumps. The Nocturnes in particular have such peaceful and calming nature, which is something I embraced in my 3-album project ‘Music for Dreams,’ A collection of albums I created together with the Bluesleep medical team researching and treating sleep disorders. The collection was commissioned by Dr. Jordan Stern, an otolaryngologist and sleep specialist, founder of Bluesleep, a passionate music lover, and for the past seven years, my husband.”
Let’s listen to another Nocturne, the E minor, Op. 72, No. 1, from the same concert in Barboursville. There is some debate as to when Chopin composed this Nocturne which was published posthumously. We invite you to visit The Chopin Institute’s website for the history of this piece and all of Chopin’s compositions.
An Evolving Connection with the Chopin Foundation
In addition to Magdalena Baczewska’s performance for the Chopin Council in Virginia, she is no stranger to audiences here in Miami. She has appeared on the Chopin for All series as both a soloist and collaborative pianist with violinist, Kinga Augustyn and mezzo-soprano, Marta Wryk. In 2018, the Chopin Foundation sponsored Magdalena’s concert as the featured guest artist at the Florida State Music Teachers Conference and performed a wonderful concert at the Biltmore Hotel, in Coral Gables. This year, Magdalena graced the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium as the host of the Finals and Awards Ceremony for the National Chopin Piano Competition.
“I was thrilled to be the host of the final round of of the competition,” said Magdalena. “What struck me upon arrival was the genuinely friendly and collegial atmosphere among the contestants. My own experience with competitions was more similar to that of Elizabeth Harmon in the recent Netflix series ‘The Queen's Gambit’ - contestants hardly talked to each other. I was thrilled to see that despite the highly competitive nature of the Competition, and incredible amounts of adrenaline present, contestants in Miami were not only polite and familiar with each other, but actually supported one another throughout!”
As someone who works with young artists regularly, Magdalena was the perfect person to assist during the final days of the Competition. “It was a great thrill to see some of the most accomplished young pianists in the country present their performances with the orchestra over the span of one weekend. And the moment of announcing the prize winners was very memorable for me. The journey toward musical excellence is a very long one, and as far as I am concerned, all of these astonishing young musicians who got this far are already true winners.”
Artist and Pedagogue in the time of Quarantine
As one who works hard to make the most of life’s challenges, Magdalena has kept very active online over the past several months. “The passion for teaching seems to be running in my blood,” Magdalena enthused. “Both my parents are musicians and pedagogues. Teaching in an academic setting, and particularly working with the brilliant students at Columbia University for the past six years has been a great joy. The questions and insights of my students in class discussions have inspired me to record a series of videos during the quarantine. My ‘Bach at Home’ series, available on YouTube, features performances and discussion of various works, most notably by J. S. Bach. As an avid harpsichordist and a great enthusiast of the early keyboard repertoire and aesthetic, I perform these both on the piano and the harpsichord, in order to help the listeners hear the music in its historical context, and make informed decisions about performing the music on the modern instruments. So You Want to Play a Fugue is one of my quarantine videos. The Prelude and Fugue in C minor is for many pianists the first experience with Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and it is exactly those pianists I had in mind when recording this episode.”
We enjoy ending our episodes with little known “fun facts” about our featured guests. For this episode we learned from Magdalena that “there exists a harpsichord, whose lid features a painting by a famous portraitist Nelson Shanks. Renee Fleming and Mstislav Rostropovich appear on it, being blessed by Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music and musicians. Nelson Shanks asked me to sit for the portrait as Saint Cecilia, who now has my face!”
Thank you for joining us for the Chopin Salons @ Home.
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Chopin Foundation programs are made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; and the City of Coral Gables. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; Funding Arts Broward; the Miami Salon Group; and scores of generous donors.