Dear Friends of the Music Performance Program,
Now that life on Columbia campus seems to have returned to its full swing, we are pleased to share the November update with you.
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
The Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program is celebrating its twenty year anniversary with a feature in Columbia Magazine.
Magdalena Stern-Baczewska has received the Culture, Science and Education Initiative Grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
On November 9, 2019, Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (Director, Music Performance Program) gave the Canadian premiere of Tan Dun's Piano Concerto "The Banquet" with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the composer conducting.
The students of the Music Performance Program performed at the annual MPP concert at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on April 15th, having won the opportunity to participate through a live audition earlier this year.
Peter Susser's Early Midsummer, a set of variations for violin and piano has received its world premiere on 4/13/2019 at the Jamesport Meeting House in Jamesport, NY. The performers were MPP music associate Muneko Otani (violin), and MPP director Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (piano).
First Place Winners!
From left to right: Joe Block, pianist; Daniel Mesko, drums; John (Jack) Aylor, bass; Aaron Kranzler, alto sax; Liam Broderick, guitar; James Haddad, trumpet.
Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (Director, Music Performance Program) gave a performance at the Opera House of Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music, celebrating the DVD release of Tan Dun's Martial Arts Cycle for Piano, Violin, and Violoncello.
BalletNext, a New York City-based ballet company led by Artistic Director and former principal ballerina of ABT (American Ballet Theatre), Michele Wiles, is looking for a cellist to perform this season at New York Live Arts!
On September 26th, 2018, Music Performance Program held a special recital of the winners of the Richard and Brooke Kamin Rapaport Summer Music Performance Fellowship.
Our retired Associate in the Music Performance Program, Niels Østbye, died on March 19, 2018, at his home in Grandview-on-Hudson, NY, at the age of 93. He taught at Columbia from 1967 until his retirement in 2016.
Meet our student Annie Nikunen (BC '20)!!
We proudly announce our new partnership with Columbia's Maison Française! The new concert series, called M@MF, will feature our outstanding MPP participants to share rich music at such an amazing venue, which is located between and near Low Library and St. Paul's Chapel.
Come help us celebrate Prokofiev's first concert in New York City! Auditions in November
"The bone man blows your mind as he blows your ears open"
Chris Washburne's newest CD release and review: Rags & Roots
Join us as we watch Aimee Toner, Alissa Mori, and Jacob Austen in concert!
