He studied piano, music theory and conducting at the Groningen Conservatory , simultaneously social economic history at the Rijksuniversiteit in Groningen. For one year he worked as a historian at a research project at the Faculty of Sociology at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (1978 - 1979). His piano teachers were Johan van der Meer, Jan Kruijt and George van Renesse. Other teachers were Alfred Salten (orchestral conducting), Willem-Frederik Bon (orchestration) en Tristan Keuris (composition). As a teacher he has been mainly influenced by Vlado Perlemuter, Louis Kentner and György Sebök. 

During the 70’s and early 80’s, he regularly performed both as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles. During that period he also worked as a pianist with the Noord-Hollands Philharmonic Orchestra (NFO).

Marcel Baudet was on the board of the Yehudi Menuhin Schoolfonds, the Stichting Jong Muziektalent Nederland, and for more than 35 years of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA). He wrote many articles and intverviews for the Piano Bulletin. He has given international masterclasses and workshops (e.g. London, Paris, New York, Moscow, St.Petersburg, Nizjni Novgorod, Tblisi and Oslo). Marcel Baudet was a jury member in a range of national and international piano competitions. He teaches regularly in summer courses in Tignes, Vila-Seca and Blonay.

In 1999, he founded the Young Pianist Foundation (YPF) and has been its artistic director ever since. He created the the YPF National Piano Competition Grand Prix Youri Egorov and organized twice a YPF Jazz Piano Competition. As director of the competition, he commissioned piano concertos to Hans Kox, Klaas de Vries and Elmer Schönberger. In 2018 a commission for a solo piece was given to Thomas Beijer.

In the 90’s he was composing film music for which he received in 1995 the Buma/Stemra Award. He also wrote several classical pieces and arrangements for two pianos. As a recall of a brief period (1972 – 1976) of also performing jazz, he composed in 2007 the jazz-influenced classical piano piece El Mestengo (see: Publications), dedicated to his close friend and band member percussionist/composer Hans Asselbergs (1953 – 2007).