Paderewski Festival announces winners of youth piano competition
Competition winners. Courtesy photos.
All winners will perform in the 2023 Paderewski Festival
– The Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles has announced the winners of the 2023 Youth Piano Competition. The auditions were held on Sunday, Oct. 15, at Libretto in downtown Paso Robles.
A total of sixteen students participated, with eight in the junior division (ages 10-14) and eight in the senior division (ages 15-18). Students presented their repertoire—a choice of two works in Junior Division and a choice of three works, including one work by Paderewski in Senior Division—on Libretto’s concert grand Steinway D piano. Competition judges included Meredith Brammeier, a Cal Poly professor of music, India D’Avignon, a Paderewski Festival Board member, and Marek Zebrowski, Paderewski Festival Artistic Director, and Director of the USC Polish Music Center.
Competition winners in the junior division include Sela Yarbrough (first place), an eighth grader from Monarch River Academy in Tulare and student of Andreas Wertz; Jiyoo Kim-Jung (second place), a tenth grader from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta and a student of Miroslava Kisilevitch; and Noelle Hadsall (third place), a ninth grader from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta and a student of Pascal Salomon.
Group of competition participants.
Competition winners in the senior division include Suri Kim (First Place), a tenth grader from Orcutt Academy High School and a student of Lynne Garrett; Sarah Gutshall (second place), a tenth grader from Santa Catalina School in Monterey and a student of Barbara Ruzicka; and Ellen Butler (third place), a tenth grader from San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara and a student for Natasha Kislenko. Also competing in the senior division, Anna Albright (a tenth grader from the San Luis Obispo Classical Academy and a student of Terrence Spiller) was recognized with the 2023 Paderewski Legacy Award.
All winners will perform in the 2023 Paderewski Festival, where they will receive cash prizes ranging from $100-750. Winners also have the chance to participate in the 2025 Cultural Exchange Program in Poland. Initiated in 2009, this unique biennial program is fully funded by the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles.
The 2023 Youth Competition Winners’ Recital will be held at the Park Ballroom in downtown Paso Robles on Saturday, November 4, at 4 p.m. The seven young pianists representing California’s Central Coast counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and Fresno will be heard in solo piano works by Chopin, Debussy, Paderewski, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninov. An award ceremony will follow the concert. Admission is free, but reservations are required at www.paderewskifest.com.
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