Friday, November 6 – Sunday 8, 2026
Paderewski Festival
Paso Robles & San Luis Obispo
Friday, November 6, 2026 at 7:00 PM Reception and 7:30 PM Concert
Cracow Duo with Violinist Grace Seng
Paso Robles, CA 93446
The Paderewski Festival returns to the Central Coast November 6–8, 2026, with three days of concerts, a master class, a film screening and community events in Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. The festival opens on Friday, November 6, the 166th anniversary of Paderewski’s birth.
The weekend centers on two concerts. On Friday evening, the Cracow Duo — cellist Jan Kalinowski and pianist Marek Szlezer — joins violinist Grace Seng at the Park Ballroom in Paso Robles. The program includes music by Paderewski, Stojowski and Różycki, and closes with Brahms’s Piano Trio No. 1. A pre-concert wine reception features Epoch Estate Wines. The Strad has praised the duo’s “wonderfully natural rapport,” and the pair have spent two decades championing Polish music in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw.
On Saturday evening, the festival joins the San Luis Obispo Symphony for the Gala, Keys of Grandeur, at the Performing Arts Center’s Harold Miossi Hall. Pianist Hyunjin Roh, winner of the 2025 Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland, performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor.” Music Director Andrew Sewell conducts a program that also includes the Mazurka from Moniuszko’s Halka and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique.” A pre-concert talk begins at 6:30 PM.
Roh also leads a free master class at Cal Poly’s Davidson Music Center on Friday afternoon, open to the public.
Saturday in Paso Robles brings a matinee screening of Poland – A Musical Self-Portrait, a 2025 documentary by Magdalena Zięba-Schwind, at Park Cinemas. At 2:00 PM, the community gathers on the Carnegie Library steps in Paso Robles City Park for a Wreath-Laying at Paderewski’s Statue, remembering the musician and leader who inspires the Festival. The ceremony is free, and no ticket is needed. The Youth Competition Winners’ Concert follows at 3:00 PM at the Park Ballroom, featuring this year’s outstanding young pianists.
The festival closes Sunday morning with the Youth Cultural Exchange Concert. Two young pianists from Poland, Mikołaj Brzostowicz and Piotr Pączkowski, perform works by Paderewski, Chopin, MacDowell, Barber and Liszt. The concert continues an exchange that has connected young musicians in California and Poland since 2009.
“Arts cannot exist in a vacuum,” said Artistic Director Marek Zebrowski in a recent interview. “They must be sustained by the communities in the widest sense of this term. They must be relevant to today’s life and minister to the needs of the society in which they seek to thrive.”
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
| Day | Time | Event | Venue | Admission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 6 | 4:00–5:30 PM | Master Class with Hyunjin Roh | Cal Poly, Davidson Music Center, Rm. 218, San Luis Obispo | Free, no ticket needed |
| Fri, Nov 6 | 7:00 PM reception, 7:30 PM concert | Cracow Duo with violinist Grace Seng | Park Ballroom, Paso Robles | Ticketed; included with the FOP Pass |
| Sat, Nov 7 | 11:00 AM | Matinee film: Poland – A Musical Self-Portrait | Park Cinemas, Paso Robles | Free; reservations at PaderewskiFest.com |
| Sat, Nov 7 | 12:00–2:00 PM | Downtown Dining Voucher | Participating restaurants, downtown Paso Robles | FOP Pass holders |
| Sat, Nov 7 | 2:00 PM | Wreath-Laying at Paderewski’s Statue | Carnegie Library steps, Paso Robles City Park | Free, no ticket needed |
| Sat, Nov 7 | 3:00 PM | Youth Competition Winners’ Concert | Park Ballroom, Paso Robles | Free, reservation required; included with the FOP Pass |
| Sat, Nov 7 | 6:30 PM talk, 7:30 PM concert | Gala: Keys of Grandeur with the SLO Symphony | Performing Arts Center, Harold Miossi Hall, San Luis Obispo | Ticketed; included with the FOP Pass |
| Sun, Nov 8 | 9:30 AM | Patron & FOP Brunch | Park Ballroom, Paso Robles | FOP Pass holders |
| Sun, Nov 8 | 11:00 AM | Youth Cultural Exchange Concert | Park Ballroom, Paso Robles | Free, reservation required; included with the FOP Pass |
The Cracow Duo with Violinist Grace Seng concert at the Park Ballroom in Paso Robles, California, is generously supported by the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
