For well over a decade now, the first week of November in Paso Robles on California’s Central Coast has been dedicated to the annual Paderewski Festival. Held November 2-5 this year, this year’s program featured an attractive mix of favorite local and youth performers next to world-renowned jazz and classical performers, youth concerts, a Saturday Gala recital, as well as a “Festival Fringe” orchestral concert.
Traditionally held at the picturesque Cass Winery on Paso’s eastside, the opening Thursday night concert brought together local fans of the Café Musique ensemble, who returned to the Festival with their traditional program of Gypsy, tango, swing and folk tunes. The violinist and group’s leader, Brynn Albanese—who also serves as concertmaster for the San Luis Obispo Symphony—together with Duane Inglish (accordion), Fred Murray (bass and vocals), and Eric Willimas (guitar, ukulele, bouzouki and vocals) kept the capacity crowd happily entertained for well over an hour.
On Saturday afternoon, the Festival moved to the Paso Robles Inn, whose historic Ballroom was once an elegant dining room where Paderewski took all his meals during his stays in town. At 4 p.m. the six finalists of the Youth Piano Competition—Max Afifi, Holly Hadsall, Noelle Hadsall, Vincent Lertchareonyong, Xinyun Liu, and Andy Shen—presented a recital of music ranging from Bach and Mozart to Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Paderewski. At the end of their concert, these winners received certificates, cash prizes, medals and gifts of books about Poland and Paderewski, presented by the Paderewski Festival Board members and Ignacy Żarski, Poland’s Consul for Culture and Public Affairs, who travelled to the event from Los Angeles.
On Saturday night the Paso Robles Inn Ballroom was filled to capacity for a piano recital by Magdalena Baczewska. Her carefully chosen program of music by Chopin, Szymanowski, Paderewski and Debussy was interspersed with brief and illustrative commentary about the music.
Ms. Baczewska’s poetic and delicate touch gave real meaning to the well-worn term ‘recital’ since—on this occasion—the music actually did speak to the audience. A standing ovation led to an encore of Paderewski’s Nocturne, played with uncommon sensitivity and lyricism. The evening began with introductions by the Honorable Mariusz Brymora, Consul General of the Republic of Poland and by Dr. Krzysztof Olendzki, director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM) who introduced the audience the “Paderewski Cycle”—a project of turning the life story of this great pianist, composer, politician and humanitarian into a musical.
Stephanie Hutchinson, Jenni Brandon, Oliver Mayer, Jim O’Quinn, Joanna Klass and IAM Dir. Krzysztof Olendzki
Sunday afternoon closed with a “Festival Fringe” event—a concert by the local, Symphony of the Vines chamber orchestra, led by Maestro Greg Magie. The soloists for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto were Poland’s Cracow Duo (cellist Jan Kalinowski and pianist Marek Szlezer), who were joined by local violinist Maurice Sklar. Park Ballroom in downtown Paso was filled to the brim with the audience who heartily applauded the soloists already after the Concerto’s first movement. A standing ovation at the Concerto’s conclusion led to an encore of Chopin from the Cracow Duo.
In addition to all these concerts, Ms. Baczewska gave a piano master class on Friday afternoon and, as is the Festival tradition, all concerts were accompanied by wine tasting with sponsoring wineries. Thus, Thursday night the audience had a chance to sample various wines from Cass Vineyards, the Friday jazz concert was introduced by excellent selections from Derby Wine Estates and for Saturday Gala and Sunday brunch Epoch Estate Wines provided their very best varietals and blends. The Festival is truly fortunate to have a wide range of supporters and sponsors, including—besides those wine producers already mentioned—Tablas Creek, Halter Ranch, Pear Valley and Firestone Walker Brewing Company, as well as media outlets (The Tribune and the Paso Robles Press), and such organizations as Paso Robles Rotary Club, Paso Robles Inn, Wspólnota Polska Society, the Polish-Ukrainian Paderewski Foundation, Province of Tarnów, Tarnów Regional Museumand others. Plans for 2018—the year when Poland celebrates the centenary of its regained independence—are already being drawn. And since Paderewski’s role in this historical event was seminal and crucial to its success, next year’s Paderewski Festival in Paso will certainly be a special and memorable event.
[Photos by Charles Bragg & Krysta Close]
