The Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles announces the Summer 2025 Cultural Exchange Program. Carried out by the Festival Board in collaboration with the USC Polish Music Center, as well as other partners in California and Poland, this year’s Exchange will send two students—winners of the annual Youth Piano Competition in Paso Robles—on all-expenses paid study visit to Poland. The 2025 participants are Ellen Butler (17), a student of Dr. Natasha Kislenko in Santa Barbara, and Sela Yarbrough (16), a student of Andreas Werz in Fresno. They will be accompanied by Sela Yarbrough’s mother, Miho, acting as chaperone, and Marek Zebrowski, the Paderewski Festival’s Artistic Director. This year’s Cultural Exchange Program in Poland takes place from June 26 – July 13, 2025. Exchange participants will also perform later in the fall at the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, held on November 6-9, 2025.
Initiated by the Paderewski Festival, the Cultural Exchange Program began with a visit of Central Coast students to Poland in 2009, and a reciprocal visit to California by students from Poland in 2010. Since then, selected winners of the Festival’s annual Youth Piano Competition in Paso Robles travel to Poland and, in alternate years, winners of various piano competitions in Poland travel to and perform in California. After being suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Cultural Exchange Program was restarted with two California students travelling to Poland in 2023 and two Polish students visiting California in 2024.
The California visitors will arrive in Kraków on June 27 and travel to participate in Małopolska Talent Academy in Łącko on June 28. During their week-long stay in this charming mountain hamlet, they will have daily piano lessons and master classes with professors from the Kraków Music Academy, and will participate in concerts and chamber music events alongside their Polish peers.
On July 6, Ellen and Sela will present a recital at the Renaissance Manor “Dwór Karwacjanów” in Gorlice, a mountain town about 40 miles east of Łącko. The following two days will be spent in Kraków, Poland’s ancient capital, and will include a visit to the Paderewski Institute of Musicology at the Jagiellonian University as well as sightseeing. On July 8 the students will have a piano master class with Dr. Piotr Różański, VP of the Kraków Music Academy, and an evening recital at the Bishop Ciołek Palace, which is part of the National Museum/Kraków branch in the heart of the historic Old Town.
On July 9 the Exchange Program travels to Warsaw where they will spend the next four days. Organized by the Chopin National Institute in Warsaw, a visit to the Chopin Museum and an excursion to Chopin’s birthplace in Zelazowa Wola, are scheduled for July 10. Sightseeing on July 11 will include the Royal Castle, alongside courtesy calls to Warsaw City Hall and the American Embassy.
On July 12, Exchange Program participants will travel to the beautiful 18th century Bieliński Palace in Otwock Wielki which is 20 miles southeast of the capital and home to one of the Warsaw branches of the National Museum. Among many of Paderewski’s memorabilia held in the Museum’s collections, the pride of place belongs to his concert grand Steinway piano, on which Ellen and Sela will perform. Following this prestigious performing opportunity, the Cultural Exchange Program students and their chaperone will return to Los Angeles from Warsaw on July 13.
The Paderewski Festival Board is proud to conduct the Cultural Exchange Program once again this year, thanks to the availability of Festival and other local resources, as well as the generosity of worldwide partners including: Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, Consulate of the United States in Kraków, Embassy of the United States in Warsaw, Kraków Music Academy, Małopolska Talent Academy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Warsaw, Muzeum Dwór Karwacjanów/Gorlice, National Chopin Institute/Warsaw, National Museum—Bishop Ciołek Palace/Kraków, National Museum/Warsaw—Bieliński Palace Otwock Wielki, Paderewski Institute of Musicology/Kraków, Paso Robles Mayor’s Office and City Council, Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association, Porta Musicae Association/Kraków, SLO County Office of Education, SLO County Board of Supervisors, USC Polish Music Center/Los Angeles, and Warsaw City Hall/Office of Culture.
Biographies of the 2025 Cultural Exchange Program participants
Ellen Butler (17) began playing piano at age 6 and studied with Dr. Natasha Kislenko for ten years. She also studied or had master classes with Ekaterina Bobrova, Jacopo Giacopuzzi, Sergei Glavatskih, Samir Golescu, Connor Hanick, Miroslava Kisilevitch, Yulia Soboleva, and Marek Zebrowski. Last summer, Ellen participated in the XV International Youth Summer School of Art and XXXII International Music and Art Festival of the Sviatoslav Richter Foundation.
In the fall of 2024 Ellen appeared with the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony and, as a winner of their 2025 Concerto Competition, will be the Symphony soloist next season. Ellen’s awards include: Third Place at the Paderewski Festival Youth Competition for 2022 and 2023, Second Place at the 2024 Glissando International Piano Competition, First Place at the 2022 Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation competition, First Place at the 2023 Colibri International Instrumental Competition, and First Place at the 2024 Paderewski Festival Youth Competition. She is also a winner of the 2024 Southern California Junior Bach Festival, and the Ellen Reidel Memorial Scholarship recipient from the Santa Barbara Music Club.
Ellen performed for the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC) and Santa Barbara Music Club festivals and showcases and was invited to perform at the Santa Ynez Valley Concert Series. In February of 2025, she was awarded the Avonell Jackson Memorial Scholarship from the Santa Barbara MTAC for the second time. In addition to solo piano, she likes chamber music and intends to continue performing, participating in competitions and festivals, and attending master classes. Inspired by her family and teachers, Ellen hopes to pursue music and science since she finds them both interesting, creative, and rewarding. In her free time, she enjoys martial arts, reading, mathematics, and science. She also teaches piano and tutors physics as a community service.
Sela Yarbrough (16) began piano lessons at age three and since age six has studied with Andreas Werz. Currently a 9th grader at Monarch River Academy in Fresno, Sela has given solo recitals throughout California and Japan. She has been privileged to perform in master classes with such renowned pianists as Barry Douglas, Richard Goode, Marc-André Hamelin, and Garrick Ohlsson.
Recently awarded in the CAPMT Competition State Finals and the Sylvia M. Ghiglieri Piano Competition, Sela has won first prizes in the Paderewski Festival Youth Competition, the MTAC Fresno Branch Piano Competition Senior Division, the SoCal International Piano Competition, and the Central Valley Baroque Festival. Sela frequently collaborates with chamber music ensembles and acts as an accompanist for both instrumentalists and choirs. Outside her musical endeavors, Sela is a black belt in Taekwondo and an avid reader in English and Japanese.
More information on this year’s Cultural Exchange Program: www.paderewskifest.com.