Byron Janis was a celebrated classical pianist who drew attention for his 1948 debut at Carnegie Hall, performed when he was just 20 years old, and his later discovery of previously unknown Chopin waltzes.
- Died: March 14, 2024 (Who else died on March 14?)
- Details of death: Died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City at the age of 95.
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Byron Janis’ legacy
Born Byron Yanks – he changed his surname after he became a performer – Janis showed a talent for music at a young age. In 1937, he made his performance debut at the Pittsburgh Carnegie Music Hall. He was just 8 years old. At 15, he began studying with master pianist Vladimir Horowitz, one of just three students Horowitz ever took on, and at 18, he signed with RCA Victor Records.
Janis made his talent known to the world in October 1948, when he debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The performance won rave reviews and put him on the map as a new talent to watch. In the ensuing decades, Janis proved the predictions correct, performing at the White House for six different sitting presidents, composing scores for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates,” and becoming one of the elite artists chosen to participate in the 1960 Cultural Exchange between the U.S. and the country’s then-Cold War enemy, the Soviet Union.
Janis discovered four previously unknown waltzes by Chopin, taught music at Yale University, and won numerous awards, including a Stanford Fellowship from Yale. He was named Commander of the French Legion d’Honneur for Arts and Letters and the first musician since 1906 to win the gold medal from the French Society for the Encouragement of Progress. His autobiography, “Chopin and Beyond: My Extraordinary Life in Music and the Paranormal,” was released in 2010. It was coauthored with his wife, Maria Cooper, daughter of film legend Gary Cooper.
Tributes to Byron Janis
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
