Byron Janis
Classical pianist
BYRON Janis, who has died at 95, was a renowned American concert pianist and composer who broke barriers as a Cold War-era culture ambassador and later overcame severe arthritis that nearly robbed him of his playing abilities.
A childhood prodigy who studied under Vladimir Horowitz, Janis emerged in the late 1940s as one of the most celebrated virtuosos of a new generation of talented American pianists.
In 1960, he was selected as the first musician to tour the then-Soviet Union as part of a cultural exchange programme organised by the US State Department. His recitals of Chopin and Mozart awed Russian audiences and were described by the New York Times as helping to break “the musical iron curtain”.
Seven years later, while visiting a friend in France, Janis discovered a pair of long-lost Chopin scores in a trunk of old clothing. He performed the waltzes frequently over the ensuing years, eventually releasing a widely hailed compilation featuring those performances.
But his career, which spanned more than eight decades, was also marked by physical adversity, including a freak childhood accident that left his left little finger permanently numb and convinced doctors he would never play again.
He suffered an even greater setback as an adult. At 45 he was diagnosed with a severe form of psoriatic arthritis in his hands and wrists. Janis kept the condition secret for more than a decade, often playing through excruciating pain.
“It was a life-and-death struggle for me every day for years,” Janis recalled. “At every point, I thought of not being able to continue performing, and it terrified me. Music, after all, was my life.”
He revealed his diagnosis publicly in 1985 following a performance at the Reagan White House, where he was announced as a spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation.
The condition required multiple surgeries and slowed his career. However, he was able to resume performing after making adjustments to his technique that eased pressure on his swollen fingers.
Janis remained active in his later years, composing scores for television shows and musicals, while putting out a series of unreleased live performances.