The eight-day event brings together leading Polish and international performers for nine concerts featuring classical music, film and visual arts.
The festival features performances by acclaimed musicians and young talents from Poland and abroad, including jazz vocalist Grażyna Auguścik, violinist Bartłomiej Nizioł, pianists Yehuda Prokopowicz and Hyuk Lee, as well as the Warsaw Saxophone Orchestra and the Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra.
The festival runs until November 10, with events taking place at leading concert venues across the Polish capital.
Admission to all concerts is free, although tickets must be reserved in advance.
The event honours Paderewski's music and his role in Poland’s struggle for independence in the early 20th century.
He was one of the country’s leading diplomats and political figures following World War I.
"The aim of the festival is not only to promote Paderewski's music, but also to preserve the memory of his outstanding artistic achievements and his work for Poland," the organisers say.
Organised by the Ave Arte Foundation, this year's festival opened with a chamber concert at the White Hall of the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace in Warsaw's southern Wilanów district.
The Warsaw Saxophone Orchestra performed works by Bach, Mozart, Paderewski and Grieg.
The festival also includes a family concert entitled Animals Live in Music, at the PROM Kultury Saska Kępa cultural centre.
Designed for children and their parents, the event takes young audiences on a musical journey, showing how sounds can evoke animal voices, movements and characters.
Another highlight is an evening focusing on documentary filmmaking and visual arts. It features Wiesław Dąbrowski’s film Paderewski: A Man of Action, Success and Fame, alongside artworks by students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, created under the guidance of Prof. Katarzyna Stanny.
One of the festival’s main events is a concert devoted entirely to Paderewski’s compositions, performed by the Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra at public broadcaster Polish Radio's Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio in Warsaw.
The programme includes his Overture in E-flat major, which was never performed during the composer’s lifetime, as well as two major concert works: Polish Fantasy, Op. 19, featuring distinctive mazurka rhythms, and Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 17, composed following his studies in Vienna with renowned pianist and teacher Theodor Leschetizky.
The festival also features a concert by winners of the third International Paderewski Piano Competition for Children and Young People, at the Chamber Hall of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw.
Visitors can also see an outdoor exhibition entitled Paderewski Won Poland with His Piano, displayed along the railings of Ujazdowski Park near a statue of the composer.
First held in 2014, the Paderewski Festival is now in its 13th year.
Born 166 years ago this month, Paderewski was one of the architects of Poland’s independence, which it regained in 1918 after more than 120 years of foreign rule.
(pg/gs)