(New York) Byron Janis, famous American concert pianist and composer who broke barriers as a cultural ambassador during the Cold War era, and who later overcame severe arthritis that nearly robbed him of his gaming abilities, died. He was 95 years old.
Mr. Janis died Thursday evening in a New York hospital, according to his wife, Maria Cooper Janis. In a statement, she described her husband as “an exceptional human being who took his talents to their highest peak.”
A child prodigy who studied with Vladimir Horowitz, Mr. Janis emerged in the late 1940s as one of the most famous 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 program organized by the U.S. State Department. His Chopin and Mozart recitals impressed Russian audiences and were described by the New York Times as having helped break “the musical iron curtain”.
Seven years later, while visiting a friend in France, Mr. Janis discovered a pair of long-lost Chopin scores in a trunk filled with old clothes. He performed the waltzes frequently over the next few years, eventually releasing a widely praised compilation featuring these performances.
But his storied career, which spanned more than eight decades, was also marked by physical adversity, including a childhood accident that left his left little finger permanently numb and convinced doctors that he would never play again.
He suffered an even greater setback as an adult. At age 45, he was diagnosed with a severe form of psoriatic arthritis in his hands and wrists. Mr. Janis kept his illness a secret for more than a decade, often performing in excruciating pain.
“It was a life and death struggle for me every day for years,” Mr. Janis later told Chicago Tribune. Every moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to continue playing and it terrified me. After all, music was my life, my world, my passion. »
He publicly revealed his diagnosis in 1985, following a performance at President Reagan’s White House, where he was announced as a spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation.
This condition required several surgeries and temporarily slowed his career. However, he was able to return to performing after making adjustments to his playing technique that eased the pressure on his swollen fingers.
Mr. Janis remained active in his later years, composing soundtracks for television shows and musicals, as well as presenting a series of previously unreleased live performances. His wife, M.me Cooper Janis, said her husband continued creating music until his final days.
“Despite the physical difficulties encountered throughout his career, he overcame them and this in no way diminished his artistic talent,” she added.
“Music is Byron’s soul, not a ticket to fame, and his passion and love of creating music influenced every day of his life, which spanned 95 years. »