West & East: Beethoven to Zhou Long with the Cassatt Quartet & Magdalena Baczewska
Free
- Magdalena Baczewska, piano
- Muneko Otani, violin
- Jennifer Leshnower, violin
- Rosemary Nelis, viola
- Gwen Krosnick, cello
Zhou Long — Song of the Ch'in
Dmitri Shostakovich — Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
"An extraordinary quartet" –New York Times
Pianist Magdalena Baczewska—"Columbia University professor by day, musical sorceress by night" (ConcertoNet)—returns to the Italian Academy with the renowned Cassatt String Quartet, who perform with "a mixture of boldness and finesse" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) with a new program of masterworks from three eras and three cultures.
A full house greeted Ms. Baczewska and the Cassatts in 2019 and again in early 2023 here at the Academy. They will open their return engagement with an undisputed classic, Beethoven's Quartet in F Major, Op. 18 No. 1.
The program then leaps 200 years forward for a work by Columbia alumnus and Pulitzer Prize winning Chinese-American composer Zhou Long: Song of the Ch'in (2003). This remarkable quartet is inspired by the ch'in, a traditional Chinese seven-stringed, plucked zither, which was associated with sages and scholars. The sophisticated technique of ch'in playing involves various ways of plucking the strings, as well as a wide range, varied timbres, and florid ornamentation.
Ms. Baczewska joins the quartet for the final work, Shostakovich's 1940 G-minor, Op. 57 Piano Quintet, in which a "spacious and haunting neo-classical story unfolds that looks back to the famous chamber-music masterpieces of the romantic age and often glances towards Bach, while at the same time speaking a language of its own.... Every note is clean and poised, the music moving seamlessly between the apparently light-hearted and the intensely moving. The finale is strikingly simple and powerfully memorable." (Boosey & Hawkes)
About Cassatt String Quartet
Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the New York City-based Cassatt String Quartet has performed throughout the world for nearly four decades, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall; Tanglewood Music Center; the Kennedy Center; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Centro National de las Artes; Maeda Hall; and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The Quartet’s prolific discography – featured three times in Alex Ross’s “10 Best Classical Recordings” column in The New Yorker – includes over forty recordings, for the Koch, Naxos, New World, Point, CRI, Tzadik, and Albany labels.
The Cassatt Quartet’s 2023-2024 season includes major performances and recordings of works by Tania León, Victoria Bond, Adolphus Hailstork, Chen Yi, Joan Tower, Zhou Long, and Daniel S. Godfrey; their annual residencies at the Seal Bay Festival and Cassatt in the Basin!; hometown concerts in the New York area, including at Symphony Space and Bargemusic; and appearances at Treetops Chamber Music Society, Maverick Concerts, and Music Mountain.
The CSQ is named for the great Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.
https://www.cassattquartet.com/About Magdalena Baczewska, piano
Hailed by the press as "One of the most innovative, even radical classical keyboardists in the U.S." and described as "Columbia University professor by day, musical sorceress by night," pianist and harpsichordist Magdalena Baczewska [ba-CHEV-ska] enjoys a multifaceted career as a concert artist, educator, and speaker. Having made her solo debut with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra at age 12 in her native Poland, Baczewska performed internationally with the world's leading orchestras: Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, China National Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, among others. She has been praised for her "magnificent, unique voice that stylistically never falters" (Classical Music Guide), "world-class playing" by the American Record Guide, and hailed as "eloquent and technically flawless" by The Washington Post
The first pianist to play J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations twice in one evening--first on the harpsichord, then on piano--since Rosalyn Tureck's 1977 double-bill Carnegie Hall performance, Baczewska has toured Europe and the U.S with double performances of the Variations, having also recorded them along with Strauss' Piano Sonata Op. 5 for her critically-acclaimed album, A Tribute to Glenn Gould.
Baczewska collaborates extensively with the Oscar and Grammy Award-winning composer Tan Dun, performing his music internationally. Performance highlights include a debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival, soloist appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, China National Symphony, and a Canadian premiere of Tan Dun's Piano Concerto with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. At the invitation of the composer, Baczewska also recorded his chamber music and the Sonata for Piano Solo in Shanghai’s famous Water Heavens Hall.
Baczewska is a professor of music and Director of the Music Performance Program at Columbia University. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski, for promoting Polish culture abroad.
The Palm Beach Arts Paper writes "Baczewska enlightens." As an avid educator, she has given master classes and lectures around the world: Beijing Central Conservatory, New York University, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Manhattan School of Music, International Keyboard Institute, to name a few. As a Yamaha Artist, Baczewska has used the technology pioneered by Yamaha Disklavier, to give remote master classes at the Microsoft School of the Future, Elon University, and Hartt School of Music. In her spare time she volunteers through Selfhelp, Inc., teaching music appreciation online at the Virtual Senior Center. During the COVID-19 pandemic Baczewska produced a video series Bach@Home, available on YouTube, containing piano and harpsichord performances and analysis of works by J.S. Bach, and other composers. While in lockdown she partnered with the Grand Piano Series in Florida, and the Chopin Society of Atlanta, designing and delivering an interactive series of online music appreciation lectures and discussions for seniors, and separately for small children, under the title "The Enjoyment of Music." Her musical mission, in addition to sharing the timeless beauty of the music itself, is to educate her audiences in each performance, by giving them tools to enjoy music more profoundly.
Baczewska's discography encompasses a variety of styles, ranging from classical to hip-hop. Together with composer/DJ Gene Pritsker, Baczewska released an album for the harpsichord and samplestra Hip-Hopsichord. She also collaborated with Pritsker on a remix of Music for Dreams - a crossover between classical style and chillhop. Baczewska has also collaborated with the BlueSleep medical team specialized in research and treatment of sleep disorders. Among her releases are three best-selling albums Music for Dreams, and music for MetroNaps’ EnergyPod®, popularized by Google.
Baczewska holds Bachelor's and Master’s degrees from Mannes College The New School for Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. Her doctoral dissertation, In Search of Bach's Cantabile: The Role and Aspects of Oratory and Singing in Keyboard Interpretation was published by Lambert Academic Publishing.
https://www.magdalenanyc.com/