Brief Festival History
Since 2006 the PMC has organized the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles. To commemorate Paderewski’s association with the area, the Paderewski Festival was launched in Paso Robles in 1993, however the death of one of the Festival organizers and a destructive earthquake in 2003 temporarily suspended the annual concert series. After re-starting as a one-day Festival, it is now a five-day cultural event with concerts by world-class artists, presentations of young pianists from California’s Central Coast, lectures and historical exhibits, wine-tasting and tours of former Paderewski ranches, film screenings, showcases of Polish folklore and dance, and more.
Festival Youth Exchange & Competition
Together with the Festival Board of Directors and partners in Poland, the PMC is also running the annual Youth Piano Competition and International Youth Cultural Exchange programs linking California’s Central Coast and Poland’s Province of Tarnów and the Podolia Province of Ukraine—three geographical locations associated with Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Since 2009, every two years young pianists from California travel for a two-week program of piano workshops, master classes and concerts in Poland. Also every two years, starting in 2010, young pianists from Poland and Ukraine travel to California to perform at the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, participate in master classes given by world-class artists at the Festival and as well as with members of the world renowned piano faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music. Participants for this program are chosen from among the winners of the Festival’s , as well as local competitions in Poland and Ukraine.
For more information, visit www.paderewskifest.com