2016 September PASO Magazine

ROUND TOWN
2016 PADEREWSKI FESTIVAL
PERFORMERS ANNOUNCED
By Melissa Chavez
Tickets are available for the 2016
Paderewski Festival on November 2-6,
2016. The five-day event honors Paso
Robles’ most distinguished and historic
celebrity, Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
The Festival will open on Wednesday
with a piano concert by Paderewski
Festival Youth Exchange students from
Poland and Ukraine (time and venue
TBA). On Thursday, the Tomines Ensemble
of guitar and violin music will
perform at Cass Winery at 7 p.m.,
preceded by a wine reception at 6:30
p.m. On Friday, serious piano students
can take part in a Master Class with
concert pianist Tadeusz Domanowski
at 2 p.m. in the upstairs Park Ball-
room, at 1232 Park St., Paso Robles. At
6 p.m. in the Park Ballroom, a wine
reception will precede performances
by Maestro Adam Gilbert and Thornton
Baroque Sinfonia in a concert of
Early Polish Music at 7 p.m.
On Saturday at 10 a.m., audiences
can enjoy a Paderewski film screening
at Park Cinemas. In the Paso Robles
Inn Ballroom, the Youth Piano Competition
Winners’ Recital will begin at
4 p.m., followed by a wine reception at
7 p.m. and a Paderewski Festival Gala
Recital with Tadeusz Domanowski at
7:30 p.m., featuring works by Chopin,
PASO POPS to fund nonprofit youth arts programs
By Melissa Chavez
Four nonprofit organizations will reap the first
fruits from the PASO POPS event held this past July
2 at Paso Robles Horse Park. Surpassing even optimistic
expectations, the Independence Day weekend
celebration proved a widely anticipated community
get-together. Four-thousand-strong enjoyed
rousing performances by the San Luis Obispo Symphony
and other music artists, wine tasting, food,
activities and dramatic fireworks at sunset, replete
with booming canons silhouetted in smoke.
“With the success of the inaugural 2016 PASO
POPS, we not only reached our goal of breaking
even, but also net proceeds will allow us joyfully
to fulfill our pledge of support to four local
nonprofit youth arts programs,” said Steve Cass,
president of PASO POPS. “The Paso Robles Youth
Arts Foundation, Studios in the Park Youth Art
Program, San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony and
Paderewski Festival Youth Piano Competition and
Cultural Youth Exchange Program will each receive
$2,500 from PASO POPS.”
Cass added, “The Paderewski Festival in Paso
Robles and San Luis Obispo Symphony owe a
debt of gratitude to the many businesses that
contributed services at discounted rates, sponsors
that carried the financial load, volunteers who
worked hard to make PASO POPS a safe, fun and
family-friendly patriotic event, and a very large
committee that put nearly a year into the planning
of this inaugural event.”
Overwhelming popularity for the first-time
event has encouraged the board to redouble their
efforts toward substantial fundraising for youth
Paderewski, Ryterband and more.
The series concludes Sunday with
a Paderewski Birthday Celebration in
the Park Ballroom from 3-4:30 p.m.
Maestro Greg Magie will conduct the
Symphony of the Vines artists plus
Paderewski Festival Youth Exchange
students in solo performances with
music by Beethoven, Prokofiev and
others.
Tickets prices range from Free to
Premium Admission. For more details,
to access the ticket Web link or to
volunteer at the Festival, visit www.
paderewskifest.com.
arts. “We’ve taken note of the issues that came
with the large inaugural PASO POPS response
and are already planning how to make next year’s
PASO POPS a serious success,” said Cass. “Save
the date for Saturday, July 1, 2017!”
To learn more about PASO POPS. visit www.
pasopops.org.
THE SUNDAY MUSIC SERIES IS NOW 68 YEARS STRONG
North SLO County Concert Association announces 2016-2017 schedule
By Melissa Chavez
2017, is the chamber
North SLO County
music ensemble of
Concert Association
Prima Trio, featuring
(NSLOCCA) has announced
clarinetist Boris Al-
a quartet of
lakhverdyan, violinist
concerts that will perform
Gulia Gurevich and
over the 2016- Karkowska Sisters Duo George Bugatti Ardango Prima Trio
pianist Anastasia De-
2017 concert season.
dik. Founded in 2004
The nonprofit oganization is part of a national Community
Concert Association, which hosts professional
artists from all throughout the country.
With a nominal subscription, guests may attend a
diverse selection of four concerts, including reciprocity
to 16 other Concert Association locations in California,
Nevada and Oregon. All performances are held
on Sundays at Trinity Lutheran Church, located at
940 Creston Road in Paso Robles. Doors open at 2:30
p.m., and concerts will begin promptly at 3 p.m.
The Karkowska Sisters Duo will mix humor with
high-brow in an entertaining and impressive repertoire
of chamber music on September 18. Virtuoso
violinist Anna and concert pianist Kasha graduated
from Julliard School of Music in New York City and
Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Poland. Their televised,
around-the-world performances have been hailed by
critics (“stunning… played better than Itzhak Perlman’s
own recording”), audiences and judges alike
with standing ovations, encores and first prizes in international
music competitions.
On October 23, audiences can enjoy pop standards
from the 50s, 60s and 70s for “Portraits of America”
by pianist George Bugatti. The American singer and
pianist has recorded several albums produced by Steve
Allen, Nigel Wright and Paul Anka and has performed
extensively throughout the U.S., including the Bellagio
Resort and Carnegie Hall. Fans of crooners Frank Sinatra
and Tony Bennett will enjoy classics, such as “I Left
My Heart in San Francisco,” “My Kind of Town,” “Luck
Be a Lady Tonight” and “Autumn Leaves.” Along with
Sam Arlen, the artist co-founded The Harold Arlen
Foundation/American Songbook Foundation.
Ardango will please fans of oldies, love songs,
classical jazz fusion, Latin jazz, smoothed hymns and
R&B slow jams on February 5, 2017. The trio is made
up of Dan Lichti, who plays trumpet and flugelhorn,
and guitarist Arland Finney, who have performed for
over 17 years. Joining them within the last three years
is percussionist Bobby Logan. Together, they improvise
smoothly in a way their audiences truly enjoy.
Rounding out the concert season on March 26,
while attending Oberlin Conservatory of Music in
Ohio, the talented young artists have performed in
distinguished chamber concert venues throughout the
United States, as well as at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
in Germany. Among their notable
accomplishments was earning Grand Prize and Gold
Medal awards out of a worldwide field of 137 entrants
at the 2007 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in
South Bend, Indiana.
NSLOCCA thrives solely on the work and commitment
of 24 volunteers, annual subscriptions, in-kind
donations, fundraisers and the generosity of dedicated
sponsors. For complete concert details, visit www.nslocca.org.
Single ticket prices are $25 at the door. Series
subscription costs are $65 for adults and $70 for single
parent families, $135 for families, and $15 for students.
Pro-rated subscriptions are available. Make checks payable
to: North SLO County Concert Association, 914
Carner Court, Paso Robles, CA 93446. Season tickets
are mailed prior to the first concert. For more information,
call 239-2770 or 237-8122.
38 PASO Magazine, September 2016