News

May 2023 Newsletter

Click below to read our May newsletter, which includes a list of our graduating seniors, winners of the 2023 Richard and Brooke Kamin Rapaport Summer Music Performance Fellowship, and a photo gallery from our Spring events.

Musical Mentors Collaborative

Recruiting instructors for Musical Mentors Collaborative! MMC is a music education nonprofit that provides free, one-on-one music instruction to students who wouldn’t otherwise have access to private lessons. Founded in 2009 by students at Columbia University, Musical Mentors Collaborative began as a small group of volunteer musicians—both amateurs and aspiring professionals—teaching free private lessons to elementary school students in Morningside Heights. MMC was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2011, and in the following years, established chapters at NYU, Queens College, Boston University, and Binghamton University. Since 2009, our volunteer instructors have collectively taught nearly 8,000 private lessons to hundreds of students.When COVID-19 pandemic hit, we designed a teaching artist program that pays emergency grant relief to exceptionally accomplished musicians whose careers and income were impacted by the crisis, and deploys them as private music tutors to MMC students. We moved our lessons from classrooms to Zoom, and with the support of companies like Logitech and Blue Mics, invested in quality enhancements to the virtual learning environment. We also expanded our student outreach to include youth homelessness shelters and supportive housing networks, and began offering free instruments to any MMC student who needed one.Today, our collaborative includes musicians, educators, and university students; homelessness shelters, supportive housing networks, and low-income Title I schools. Our volunteers and staff fall in a diverse pool of professions such as law, medicine, social work, finance, technology, and arts administration. MMC's goal is to rally music-lovers across our community, and use that resource to build novel educational infrastructure that serves our next generation of musicians. MMC wants to sincerely invite Columbia students to join us on our adventure and provide PS 145 students with musical lessons! A parent once said "we can not afford $110 per private class, I wish we could...but my daughter had the opportunity to study with one of MMC's mentors last year and she enjoyed the lessons a lot. She loves music and we believe she will benefit from playing the instrument! We really hope that this year, we will be able to make music as well!"You can find more information here via our website. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Columbia MMC at columbia [at] musical-mentors.org if you have any questions.

Magdalena Stern-Baczewska Premieres Charles Fox's Fantaisie for Clarinet, Piano, and Orchestra

Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (Director, MPP), together with clarinetist Carol McGonnel and Orchestre de Chambre du Conservatoire Américain de Fontainebleau, gave a U.S. premiere of Charles Fox's Fantaisie for Clarinet, Piano, and Orchestra, with the composer at the podium.

United in Peace, a Concert in Solidarity with Ukraine, Presented by the MPP

On Friday, May 6th, the Columbia University Music Performance Program presented United for Peace, a concert in solidarity with Ukraine, in St. Paul's Chapel, featuring the faculty artists of the Music Performance Program, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program, and Barnard College.

March 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Music Performance Program,

During these very turbulent times, we turn to music in search of solace. We hope you will join us this spring, online or in person, and help our students celebrate their artistry and achievements. In this newsletter you will find the details of our upcoming March events, as well as a sneak peek of our April highlights, including our long-awaited gala at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. As usual, we also invite you to meet one of our extraordinary students, Stephanie Chow.
Thank you for your continued interest and support.

On behalf of the MPP team,
Magdalena Stern-Baczewska

February 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Music Performance Program,

We hope that 2022 has already brought hope and good news to you all. It is our pleasure to announce an update in Columbia University’s policy that allows us to invite you all to attend our upcoming Spring events in person. While we will continue to live stream our events via Facebook, guests who are not Columbia affiliates are now invited to attend MPP concerts in person, with a proof of vaccination and a mask.

If you would like to see what you missed last semester, we invite you to visit our brand new YouTube channel. Please mark your calendars and join us for Mid-Day Music at Maison Française on February 11 and 25, as well as Mid-Day Jazz at Faculty House on February 18. We look forward to seeing you there!

Magdalena Stern-Baczewska

Winter 2021 Newsletter

MPP

This semester, our students have made music with particular enthusiasm and passion, and their Columbia friends have come in unprecedented numbers to support them. We had a full house at each concert, and all events were received with great warmth and fervor. The MPP music associates, who have prepared the ensembles for their performances deserve a special word of gratitude for their passion, dedication, and creativity.

We have continued to host online events featuring guest artists, among them masterclasses with cellist Wendy Sutter and violinist Richard Lin. The Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program, under the new leadership of Ole Mathisen, presented masterclasses with jazz percussionist Clarence Penn and saxophonist Miguel Zenon.

This has also been a semester of new beginnings: we have welcomed new members of the MPP community; Music Associates: Elizabeth Brown (shakuhachi), Yumi Kurosawa (koto), David Krauss (trumpet), Ingrid Laubrock (jazz saxophone), and our new Assistant to Director, Chelsea Wimmer.

We are also staying in touch with MPP alumni and are happy to share their latest news below.

Grateful for your continued interest and support, we wish you a peaceful and restorative Holiday season.

On behalf of all of us in the MPP,
Magdalena Stern-Baczewska

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