Maria-Magdalena Kaczor

She was born in 1980 in Koscian, 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 Poznan.
In 1995 she was accepted into the piano class of Aleksandra Utrecht at the Mieczyslaw Karlowicz Music High School in Poznan, 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 Przemyslaw Palka, exams with honors), improvisation, chamber music, and organ.
In 1999 she began her musical studies at the National Academy of Music “Ignacy Paderewski” in Poznan, graduating in 2004 with a master’s degree in piano (in the class of Ewa Kandulska-Jakóbczyk) and in music education (with emphasis on piano).
As a result of her participation in an inter- pretation 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 arr.), 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 de Dansn 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.
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 Raison, de Grigny, Bach, Liszt, Schroeder, Surzynski and Tournemire.
Upon an invitation by Frédéric Muñoz she recorded works by Scheidt, Scheidemann, Sweelinck and Forberger on the historic Jean-Pierre Cavaillé organ at Saint-Guilhem le Désert (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) in 2014 (Digital only album, Aeolus).
In October 2007 she was a finalist at the André Marchal International Organ Competition in Biarritz, with a special mention from the jury and 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. 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.
She performs regularly at music festivals in Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Luxem- bourg, the Netherlands and Poland, i.e. twice at Festival Berlioz in La Côté Saint-André (Isère, France), twice at the Festival Basse Navarre, at the Festival of La Chaise Dieu (Haute Loire, France), in the cathedrals of Annecy, Bordeaux, Chambéry, Antwerp, Luxembourg, Trier, in the Grote Kerk of Breda (Netherlands), etc.
With great enthusiasm Maria-Magdalena Kaczor also consecrates herself to chamber music with the participation of the pipe organ.