Magdalena Suchecka Richter, violin
Born to a family of professional musicians in Gdansk, Poland, Magdalena Suchecka Richter started to play violin at four and joined her parents in her teenage years, performing regularly in professional venues. She studied first at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk, then at the Academy of Music in Warsaw, where she earned her diploma with the highest honors and joined a faculty. She continued her studies in the US at Boston University and Longy School of Music with Roman Totenberg. Richter holds her Master of Music degree from Juilliard School, where she was a scholarship student of Dorothy Delay, earning the Extraordinary Student of America Award.
Other awards have included a fellowship to the Aspen Music School, a Special Award from the International Competition for American Music in New York City, first prize awards from numerous National competitions in Poland, a prize in the International Wieniawski competition, and the International Young Violinists’ Competition in Paris.
As a soloist, Magdalena Suchecka Richter performed with Warsaw and Cracow Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Nashua Philharmonic, and Wellesley Symphony, among others. She presented concerts at the National Radio House in Paris, France, Warsaw Symphony Hall, and many other European cities. Now settled in Boston, Richter has performed in various concert series at Jordan Hall, the Gardner Museum, and Edward Pickman Concert Hall. She also participated in hundreds of concerts and presentations for schoolchildren in Poland and the USA.
Richter is also a very devoted teacher and was a Chairman of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School String Department from 1995-2023, where she was awarded the prestigious Jean Stackhouse Award for Excellence in Teaching. She remains on the New England Conservatory Preparatory School Violin Faculty. She is also on The Rivers School Conservatory faculty in Weston, MA, where she served as the String Faculty 2000-2019 Chairman. She was a youth orchestra conductor at the Rivers Day School from 2007-2018. Orchestra was awarded Gold Medals at Canadian Musicfest Festivals in Ottawa in 2015 and Niagara Falls in 2017.
Her students are involved in various Boston youth orchestras and District, All State, All Eastern, and National Orchestras, often serving as section leaders. Many are winners of local and national competitions and become professional musicians. Her former students are members of leading orchestras, including two former students in the New York Philharmonic.
Magdalena Suchecka Richter is also dedicated to training new generations of teachers and was involved in the String Pedagogy Seminar at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, and The Rivers School Conservatory in the past.