A Summary by Marek Zebrowski
Administered by the annual Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles and its partners in Poland, this year’s Youth Cultural Exchange Program was held from June 27 until July 13, 2025. Two California students—winners of the Festival’s Youth Piano Competition, held annually in Paso Robles—travelled for well over two weeks of concerts, master classes, and sightseeing in southern and central Poland.
This unique program is funded by the Paderewski Festival with support from several important partner institutions in Poland and California, including the: Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw and Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, Fryderyk Chopin Institute, National Museum Warsaw/Otwock Branch, Paderewski Institute of Musicology/Kraków, Kraków Music Academy, Porta Musicae Association, Dwór Karwacjanów i Gładyszów/Gorlice, Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association and USC Polish Music Center/Los Angeles, as well as numerous individuals.
June 27 – July 6: Arrival in Poland and the Talent Academy
Landing at the Kraków airport on the evening of June 27, 2025 after a long flight from Los Angeles via Warsaw were Ellen Butler (17) from Santa Barbara and Sela Yarbrough from Kingsburg, the 2025 Exchange students. The young musicians were accompanied by Sela’s mother, Miho, who acted as a chaperone on this trip. The three Californian visitors were met at KRK by the Paderewski Festival’s artistic director, Marek Zebrowski, and spent their first night in Poland at the Europejski Hotel near the main railway station and on the edge of Kraków’s picturesque and historical Old Town.
The next morning the Exchange Program participants were taken to the mountain town of Łącko, about 70 miles southeast of Kraków to participate in the week-long Małopolska Talent Academy. Ola Kuzemko, manager of the Porta Musicae Association, acted as the driver and a helpful guide for a two-hour ride along the region’s scenic country roads. Once in Łącko, the group was housed at the inn, Pod Jabłonią, where three meals were served each day to all students enrolled in this year’s Talent Academy.
Daily piano lessons and master classes were held in Łącko’s brand new music school built thanks to its excellent and very determined director, Dr. Stanisław Strączek. This large building also houses a medium-sized concert hall as well as offices of local cultural agencies and a county library. Positioned on the edge of Łącko along the banks of the Czarna Woda mountain stream, the music school building is about a mile from the guesthouse and restaurant, affording all a chance to discover the charms of this town on foot. With daytime highs nearing triple digits for a few days, the weather was somewhat challenging; fortunately for all faculty and students, the air-conditioned concert hall, excellent local café with ice cream and generally much cooler nights provided a degree of relief from the summer heat.
The Talent Academy was officially launched on Sunday, June 29 with a concert spotlighting Ellen and Sela in a program of Bach, Beethoven and Chaminade. Their next public performance was just a day later, when Ellen and Sela performed works by William Bolcom and Jerome Kern for students from local schools who attended a special prizegiving ceremony at the end of their school year.
Throughout the week, Ellen and Sela had daily piano lessons as well as master classes with Professor Marek Szlezer, head of the Piano Department at the Kraków Music Academy. Together with cellist Jan Kalinowski (pictured above), Dean of the Kraków Music Academy, professor Szlezer is the co-founder and artistic director of the Małopolska Talent Academy. The two California students also performed at the “Mostly Chopin” concert July 3 alongside several other students participating in this year’s 11th edition of Talent Academy. Other instrumentalists, including several string faculty members and students were heard inside the 18th century Baroque church of St. John the Baptist on Wednesday, July 2 and at the closing concert at the Music School July 5.
July 6 – 9: Onto Gorlice and Kraków
On July 6 after breakfast, all packed, the California visitors said goodbye to Łącko and were driven by another dedicated Exchange partner, Maestro Łukasz Meyger, about 45 miles east to Gorlice. There, after a midday meal, the group entered a beautiful Renaissance-era residence now a museum known as the Karwacjan and Gładysz Family Manors. They were instantly welcomed by the museum’s director, Katarzyna Szepieniec (pictured at right below), who provided the visitors with some lovely gifts and made the opening remarks before the concert began.
Sela Yarbrough opened the program with the first movement of Beethoven’s Op. 7 Sonata, continued with Jerome Kern’s Don’t Ever Leave Me (in Keith Jarret’s arrangement) and finished with Chopin’s Ballade, Op. 52. For the other half of the Sunday afternoon concert, it was Ellen Butler’s turn to present Chaminade’s Etude “Automne,” Ligeti’s Etude No. 8, Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag and conclude with Chopin’s Ballade, Op. 47. To cap their afternoon program Ellen and Sela performed jointly the first of Paderewski’s six pieces for piano four-hands from his Tatra Album, Op. 12.
That same evening Maestro Meyger drove everybody back to Kraków, a distance of some 80 miles again along scenic and winding country roads. Although it was Sunday evening, the sun was still far away from setting, traffic was mercifully light, and views of gently rolling hills, farms and woods bathed in soft evening light could be enjoyed in full. A late al fresco dinner in Kraków (pictured above) was followed by two more nights at the Europejski Hotel.
Monday, July 7 was spent mostly sightseeing in Kraków’s Old Town and visiting the Paderewski Institute of Musicology (pictured above). At the Institute, Dr. Andrzej Sitarz gave a tour of Paderewski’s manuscripts and library, just as he has done for all students who have visited Poland since the Exchange began. Paderewski’s precious documents are housed inside the historic Pusłowski Palace, where the Institute has been headquartered for decades.
Next, Ellen and Sela prepared for the following day that began with morning master classes with Dr. Piotr Różański (pictured above left), a noted pianist and current vice-president of the Kraków Music Academy. The afternoon of July 8 was given to sound check and a concert at the Bishop Ciołek Palace (pictured at center above), just a few steps away from the famous Wawel Royal Castle. This concert was attended by the Kraków Music Academy’s principals, including its President, Dr. Mariusz Sielski (pictured above right), as well as Vice-President and the Dean of the Instrumental Division, who joined the audience in the palatial space now converted into one of Kraków’s National Museum locations. Also present was Dr. Bogusława Hubisz-Sielska, who acted as host and emcee of the event.
July 9 – 12: Warsaw and Its Surroundings
By Wednesday, July 9, the California visitors boarded the morning express train at Kraków’s main RR station and after a little over two hours alighted at Warsaw’s Central Station. From there it was a relatively short walk to Novotel Hotel in the heart of Poland’s capital, where the Exchange Program would stay for the next four nights. These accommodations were graciously sponsored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles and arranged by Consul General Paulina Kapuścińska and Consul Filip Czerwiński in coordination with director Anna Godlewska at the Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw. That same evening, thanks to the invitation by Grzegorz Dworakowski, the Exchange Program participants were guests at the Jassmine Club in the center of Warsaw, where they heard a long and fascinating set of songs performed by Stanisław Soyka (pictured below) and his quartet.
July 10 began with an extended visit to the Chopin Museum in Warsaw, organized thanks to Dr. Artur Szklener, director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, and his very helpful staff including Joanna Banaszczyk, Filip Jędrzejewski, Seweryn Kuter, and Agnieszka Rzeszotek. With a special English-language tour over (and after purchases made in the Chopin Museum store), it was time to rush to Warsaw’s Central Station and board an express train to Sochaczew, a town about 50 miles west of Poland’s capital. From there it was another five miles or so to Chopin’s birthplace of Żelazowa Wola. The visitors were conveyed to the manor house by a staff car sent to the railway station by the director, Anna Tarnawska. Upon arrival the Exchange Program was treated to another extensive English-language tour, including the surrounding parkland and the interior of the house where Chopin spent the first few months of his life.
The absolute highlight of the Żelazowa Wola visit—and certainly of this year’s Exchange Program—came when, at the end of their tour, Ellen and Sela were asked to perform on a beautiful Steinway in one of the rooms at the manor house (pictured at the top of the article). The fact that only the world’s finest pianists are asked to perform in that quasi-sacred space was the most unexpected honor and a great surprise for the California students. The experience of performing Chopin’s Third and Fourth Ballades to the admiring audience of guides and officials as well as a few random tourists present in that late summer afternoon will surely remain with Ellen and Sela for a very long time indeed.
Another lovely surprise was the invitation to a July 11 reception at the private residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Poland. Thanks to Agata Milton, the Press and Media liaison at the U.S. Embassy and a cherished friend of the Exchange Program, we were not only hosted by Deputy Chief of Mission, Daniel Lawton (pictured above center), but also both Ellen and Sela had a chance to play their Bolcom and Kern pieces for the Embassy’s officers and staff and a group of visiting American students. A reception with tea and cookies followed and, thanks again to Ms. Milton, upon their departure Ellen and Sela were handed a large box of delicious pastries to take back to the hotel. It was certainly a very memorable day filled with extraordinary experiences.
More wonderful surprises were still to follow that same day, when one of the Polish alums of the Cultural Exchange Program, Michał Niedbała (pictured above center), unexpectedly contacted us in Warsaw. Originally from Tarnów where he began his piano studies, Michał visited California and performed at the Paderewski Festival with two other students in 2014. Now, over a decade later, he has become a respected jazz pianist and has just moved to Warsaw. Michał graciously offered to take Ellen, Sela and Sela’s mom, Miho, on a tour of Warsaw’s Old Town. It was truly magical to reconnect with Michał and see how personal and musical links once established by the Festival and its Exchange Program continue to bear fruit.
The very last concert of their tour on July 12 was the event that both young performers anticipated with great delight. Thanks to Anna Feliks—director and curator of the National Museum/Otwock Wielki branch—Ellen and Sela were invited to perform on Paderewski’s own Steinway concert grand that once stood in the living room of his Swiss residence. After being repatriated to Poland, this one-hundred-year-old piano is now proudly displayed in the elegant ballroom of the Bieliński Palace, an imposing eighteenth century dwelling serenely situated in a beautiful English-style park.
The one-hour drive from downtown Warsaw to Otwock Wielki included a ferry ride over the fast-flowing Vistula River and the exploration of scenic country lanes leading out of the city’s distant suburbs. It was a quiet and sunny afternoon and as soon as the group arrived, visitors were treated to a delicious lunch prepared by the palace’s caterer. Agnieszka Michalczyk, an Otwock music schoolteacher, kindly oversaw all kinds of logistics and arrangements, including catering and the use of a palace apartment as the green room. She also booked a professional photographer who captured many excellent images from the July 12 palace concert.
Music by Beethoven, Bolcom, Chaminade, Chopin, Kern and Ligeti filled the acoustically rich hall, and both performers received hearty applause from the assembled audience. To conclude their last recital in Poland, Ellen and Sela once again sat together to perform the opening movement from Paderewski’s Tatra Album for piano four-hands and, after saying goodbyes to their fans, were ferried by car to their downtown Warsaw hotel.
On Sunday, July 13, the order of the day was to pack suitcases and get on a local train to the airport. Booked on a non-stop flight to Los Angeles, Ellen and Sela were met by their respective families and taken to their homes in Santa Barbara and Fresno, reaching their destinations well after midnight local time. Another installment of the Exchange Program—which has been held continuously since 2009, interrupted only by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021—was thus successfully concluded. In keeping with tradition, next year the Paderewski Festival plans to invite two Polish students to visit California, and in 2027 another batch of Central Coast’s young pianists will again travel to Poland.
For further information about the Paderewski Festival, Youth Piano Competition and the Cultural Exchange Program visit paderewskifest.com. This year’s Festival will be held in Paso Robles November 6-9, and Sela and Ellen will perform during the final concert for Patron and Friends of Paderewski pass holders. Tickets are on sale now and, for all who would like to consider attending this year’s Festival, please also take advantage of booking your accommodations early.