Maria-Magdalena Kaczor
Biography Maria-Magdalena Kaczor
Maria Magdalena Kaczor
was born in 1980 in Kościan, Poland. Her love of music awakened at the age of seven, and she received initial piano instruction, at first at the music school of her hometown, then later with Hanna Morawska-Bernacka at the music school in Poznań.
In 1995 she was accepted into the piano class of Aleksandra Utrecht at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Music High School in Poznań, where in 1999 she passed her examinations as instrumental soloist with a major in piano and in music education (with emphasis on piano). She additionally studied choral conducting, conducting (in the class of Przemysław Pałka, exams with honors), improvisation, chamber music, and organ.
In 1999 she began her musical studies at the National Academy of Music “Ignacy Paderewski” in Poznań, graduating in 2004 with a master’s degree in piano (in the class of Ewa Jakóbczyk-Kandulska) and in music education (with emphasis on piano). Her thesis, graded cum laude, dealt with the works of twentieth-century composers from Poznań.
As a result of her participation in an interpretation course for organ music in France, she received an invitation to continue her training in Paris. From 2005 she studied with Françoise Dornier at the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Paris (5th Arrondissement), graduating with a diploma in organ from the Conservatoire National de Région in June 2008.
In September 2008 she was unanimously accepted into the organ class of François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Lyon, where she graduated with a Prix d'Orgue cum laude in June 2012.
In addition, she studied organ at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Prof. Pieter van Dijk and Prof. Wolfgang Zerer between April 2011 and March 2012.
In October 2015 she started two - years Zertificatsstudium Meinsterklasse with Bernhard Haas at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München/Germany.
During the 2012/2013 concert season Maria-Magdalena Kaczor was « Artist in residence » as organist at « Kitara Concert Hall » in Sapporo, Japan, where she played under conductors like Tadaaki Otaka, Hideichi Oki, Junichi Hirokami, Dmitri Kitaenko, Ken Takaseki and Kazafumi Yamashita. Her activities as a concert organist led her to the Metropolitan Theatre and the Suntory Hall in Tokio. In March 2013 she recorded her first solo album ("Esprit des lumières volantes") on the 4-manual Kern organ of « Kitara Concert Hall » performing works by André Raison, Nicolas de Grigny, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, Hermann Schroeder, Mieczyslaw Surzyński and Charles Tournemire.
Her second solo album "Beethoven - organ perspectives" was realized on the F. Stieffel organ (1786) in Langensteinbach/Germany and won the Prize of Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik - 4/2015.
Third solo album was recorded in July 2016 on the six different organ restored or built by Hubert Fasen Orgelbau/Germany.
Maria Magdalena Kaczor has been a scholarship holder of the Andrzeja Bator Private Foundation, the French government (2007), and the City of Kościan (2008), winner of the Arts Prize of the City of Poznań, twice artistic scholarship holder of the Région Rhône-Alpes (2010 and 2011), and artistic scholarship holder of the French Société Générale bank (2011).
In 2003 she was a finalist at the Primus Inter Pares Competition, and in October 2007 at the André Marchal International Organ Competition in Biarritz, with a special mention from the jury.
In September 2011 she shared the second prize (a first prize was not awarded) at the International Hermann Schroeder Organ Competition in Trier, Germany.
Moreover, she was an active participant at numerous master classes and summer academies, including master courses, i.e. “Classical Music of Brazil” with Iarę Behs, “The Music of Chopin” with Andrzeja Jasiński, organ master classes with Marek Toporowski, Christopher Stembridge, Martin Haselböck, Julian Gembalski, Martin Sander, Lothar Knappe, Olivier Latry, Martin Szelest, Eric Lebrun, Philippe Lefebvre, Michel Bouvard, Jos van der Kooy, and Christophe Mantoux.
Between 2003 and 2008 she organized, in conjunction with the Cultural Office of the City of Kościan, a series of organ concerts in the Gothic St Mary of the Assumption Church.
Since 1998 she has participated in over 150 benefit performances for the preservation of the Friedrich Ladegast organ of the St Stanislas and St Mary Magdalen Basilica in Poznań.
She performs regularly at music festivals in Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Poland. During the current season she plays in the cathedral of Bordeaux, in the Grote Kerk of Breda (Netherlands), at the Festival Berlioz in La Côté Saint-André (Isère, France) and at the Festival Basse Navarre.
