Portrait of Paderewski in Paso Robles. Pioneer Museum in Paso Robles.
Since October, when the International Chopin Piano Competition was held in Warsaw, and the discussions of the awardees have ended, musicians in California focused on Ignacy Jan Paderewski, not Chopin. Four projects completed in 2025 commemorated his music, life and achievements.
Poster for Paderewski Lecture-Recital, on 19 October 2025 at USC
The first was the annual Paderewski Lecture-Recital, held since 2002 at the University of Southern California. This year, the event presented the life and music of Polish-Jewish emigre composer and journalist, Szymon Laks (1901-1983). Held on October 19, 2025, the event included a lecture by guest pianist Grzegorz Mania and performances of chamber music by Laks by USC Students—Maya Irizarry-Lambright and Nathan Nguyen, violins; Mathew Pakola, viola; and Miles Reed, cello. The program included Laks’s Piano Quintet with elements of Polish folklore. As USC announced the event, "Paris-based Polish Jewish composer and writer Szymon Laks’s music uniquely balances elements of French modernism, Polish folk music and American jazz. The composer survived imprisonment at Auschwitz by conducting the camp orchestra, an experience which he later recalled in his hauntingly honest memoir entitled Music of Another World."
Student Concert at Paso Robles
The second was the annual Paderewski Festival, held since 1993 in Paso Robles and since 2007 managed by the Polish Music Center of the University of Southern California. I did not attend the whole event, making time for two concerts on Friday, November 7 and Saturday, November 8, 2025. It was definitely worth driving up to Central Coast California to hear Adam Żukiewicz, both as a mentor of young pianist giving a Piano Master Class for five brave students, all amateurs, and then attend his solo recital with music from C.P.E. Bach and Haydn to Chopin, Paderewski and Scriabin. Both events were held at the Park Ballroom, downtown Paso Robles. Another treat was a concert of young pianists who won awards in the local piano competition.
Awardees of the Youth Piano Competition.
Adam Piotr Żukiewicz
The recital started with two Sonatas in D major by C.P.E. Bach and Joseph Haydn. The highlight of the recital was Chopin's Variations on Mozart's theme "la ci darem la mano," Op. 2, an virtuosic and difficult piece in the brilliant style. This was one of the most memorable performances in a long while. There are pianists that just play the piano, after practicing eighth ours per day for 20 years, their fingers move fast and are accurate. But the sounds seem soulless. In contrast, Mr. Żukiewicz' interpretation of Chopin's Variations was sparling with wit, charm and brilliance. His hands produced a rich array of sonorities, creating a colorful sonic patette. Scriabin's Sonata in F-sharp Major Op. 30 was a delightful finale.
The pianist is an Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He has an extensive teaching experience and his ability to lead masterclasses was clear when he instructed the amateur pianist in improving their performances, without obvious criticism of their faults... Adam Piotr Żukiewicz is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed concert pianist. He performed across Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, China, and his performances were broadcast in the USA, China, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, and Poland.
Pianist's perfect hands on the piano.
His biography lists the following performances. "Highlights of recent performances include Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City and Macky Auditorium in Boulder, Colorado, as well as recitals at the CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London (UK), Royal Łazienki Theatre in Warsaw, and Chicago Cultural Center (Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series). Recent concerto performances include collaborations with the Shanghai Nine Trees Philharmonic, Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, Flagstaff Symphony, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Cheyenne Symphony, Loveland Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Greeley Chamber Orchestra, and Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra (Zlin, Czechia)."
Adam Piotr Żukiewicz holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Toronto and Masters of Music degree from Indiana University. He has also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK, and was a music scholar at the United World College of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy. Similarly to Paderewski, Adam Piotr Żukiewicz is a Steinway Artist. He is a recipient of the Steinway & Sons Top Teacher Award.
Paderewski Piano at the Pioneer Museum in Paso Robles.
Paderewski Monument in Paso Robles.
Poetic Portrayals of the Pianist, Composer and Statesman (Dec. 2025)
Paderewski Essays & Poems written and edited by Maja Trochimczyk is a book dedicated to a Polish pianist, composer, statesman and philanthropist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1840-1941) who gain international fame not only as a celebrated virtuoso pianist, but also as an architect of Poland's regained independence (1918, after 123 years of partitions). The richly illustrated volume consists of three parts. For the first part, "Paderewski Poems," Dr. Trochimczyk transcribed 52 poems about Paderewski, penned in English by American, British, Scottish, Irish and Australian poets, mostly in 1890-1940. The majority of these poems are from Paderewski personal correspondence preserved in Paderewski Archive at the Archive of Modern Records in Warsaw Poland. They have not been published before.
The second part presents four essays about Paderewski by Dr. Trochimczyk. Two of these studies, written in 2001 (published in Polish Music Journal, Vol. 4) and in 2025 are dedicated to the textual and contextual analysis of the poems, The first describes a variety of poems about Paderewski that viewed him either as a musician or statesman, a Polish patriot. The second, traces the changing image of the pianist, from a virtuoso, through a divine messenger, comparable to a seraph or archangel, to a heroic Polish patriot, and finally to an immortal, spiritual master, akin to Ascended Masters of Theosophy, who led their faithful disciples on the path of spiritual ascension into enlightenment. In Paderewski's case, that path is outlined by the sound of his piano, reverently heard in the world's concert halls.
Paderewski performs Chopin, Postcard from 1890, krakow.
The remaining two studies focus on the constructs of Paderewski stage persona and his reception, predominantly by his female audiences. A discussion of the idealized portraits of the pianist as an archangel, worshipped mostly by women, includes references to poetry, art, and philosophy of Aestheticism of the Gilded Age (2010, published in Polish American Studies, Vol. 67). The fourth essay explores the ramifications of the "Brighton Album" assembled in 1890-1898 (with some items from 1911-14) by one of Paderewski’s ardent female fans in England. Miss Madeleine Michell attended over 50 concerts and preserved hitherto not known documents about his career. In the last part of this volume, readers find a detailed calendar of Paderewski’s life and career, and lists of his writings, speeches, & music compositions, as well as a bibliography.
ISBN 978-1-945938-87-0 (hardcover), $48.00. 274 pp..(xviii pp. prefatory + 256 pp.); Cover Photo - Paderewski's 1903 portrait by Davies & Sanford, Maja Trochimczyk Collection.
Three Paderewski Plays by Kazimierz Braun
Commemorate the Great Pianist, Composer, Statesman
"Three Paderewski Plays" by Kazimierz Braun is a collection of theatrical works dedicated to the life, career, and impact of a famous Polish pianist, composer, statesman, and philanthropist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1840-1941). "Maestro Paderewski" is set as a play for one actor, illustrated with Paderewski’s music, and presented as the virtuoso pianist-composer’s reflection on his career in music and politics. It previously appeared in the first volume of Braun's Dramaty Zebrane. Collected Plays published in 2024 in Polish and English.The other two plays were included in a bilingual edition of Dramaty Zebrane. Collected Plays, vol. 4 in 2025. The play "Paderewski's Children" focuses on the patriotic activities of Lieutenant (later Colonel) Jan Chwalski – a poet, playwright, and the handler of the Paderewski puppet, during the creation of Polish Army in Canada in 1917 (it later became the Haller's Army and fought alongside Americans against the Germans in WWI). The play is in two parts and ends during World War II.
Finally, "Paderewski's Return" is set in 1922 and presents the dilemma of the aging pianist’s return to the stage after a decade when he was dedicated solely to political activities and struggle for Poland’s independence. The book includes an introductory essay by the author, and general information edited by Maja Trochimczyk: lists of Paderewski's compositions and writings, and a selected bibliography.
This book is a companion volume to “Paderewski Essays & Poems” edited by Maja Trochimczyk, with 52 newly discovered English-language poems about the virtuoso pianist (written in 1890-1941 and in 2020s), as well as four studies of his life and music, a detailed calendar of life, and lists of his works and writings.
ISBN 978-1-945938-84-9 (hardcover), $44.00, 196 pages (vi introduction + 190 pp. text)
ISBN 978-1-945938-85-6 (paperback), $28.00. ISBN 978-1-945938-86-3 (eBook)
https://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2026/01/moonrise-press-publishes-two-books.html
https://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2026/01/moonrise-press-publishes-two-books.html
Paderewski postcard by Artur Szyk, 1939.
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