While being a universal experience, sleep remains a poorly understood biological necessity whose mechanisms, disruptions, and cultural meanings have occupied scientists, philosophers, and artists for centuries. In this episode, recorded live at Reid Hall during the Nuit de l'imagination, concert pianist and harpsichordist Magdalena Stern‑Baczewska and sleep physician Jordan Stern trace the intersection of music and medicine through their decade‑long collaboration.
Stern outlines the scale of undiagnosed sleep apnea, the limits of pharmaceutical treatment for insomnia, and what neuroscience has and has not resolved about dreaming. Stern‑Baczewska, senior lecturer in music at Columbia University, director of its music performance program, and 2025 – 2026 Fellow of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, explains how she approached the interpretive challenge of creating music intended not to engage but to release, drawing from her earliest memories of hearing her mother practice during childhood naps. The conversation closes with a live lullaby concert performed at Reid Hall, recorded as part of the evening's program.
Organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, each year the Nuit de l’Imagination chooses a theme of global importance (Climate in 2023, Boredom in 2024, Neighbors in 2025) as a celebration of the work and collaborations that define Reid Hall.
Website - globalcenters.columbia.edu/paris
Newsletter - globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/paris-newsletters
Instagram - instagram.com/cgcparis
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/cgcparis
YouTube - youtube.com/@CGCParis
Host: Marie Doezema
Production: Marie Doezema, Tessa Overvoorde, and Anthony Valette
Editing: Theo Albaric
Music: Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne performed by Magdalena Baczewska and Sasha He
With thanks to the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Centre in Paris
The Columbia Global Paris Center is part of a network of 11 global centers of Columbia University in the City of New York, one of the world's leading academic institutions. The centers serve as knowledge hubs that aim to educate and inspire through research, dialogue, and action. They advance understanding, facilitate partnerships, and build the bridges necessary to tackle our changing world.
Columbia Global brings together the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.
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