Byron Janis

Byron Janis (born Byron Yanks; March 24, 1928, McKeesport, Pennsylvania – March 14, 2024, New York) was an American pianist and later a composer. He was born into the family of Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire, Samuel Yankilevitch and Hattie Gertrude Horelick, natives of Rogachyov, who shortened their surname to Yanks.

He studied with Josef and Rosina Lhevinne and then for six years with Adele Marcus. In 1943 he made his first appearance with the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frank Black, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. A year later he played the same concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by the fourteen-year-old Lorin Maazel; Vladimir Horowitz, who attended the concert, invited Janis to study with him. Their collaboration lasted three years, and in 1948 Janis made a highly successful Carnegie Hall debut, gaining recognition as one of the most promising young pianists of his time.

Janis went on to appear in solo recitals and with leading orchestras, touring internationally, including visits to the USSR in 1960 and 1962. In 1961, marking the 150th anniversary of Franz Liszt’s birth, he performed Liszt’s two piano concertos with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Charles Munch. In 1962 he received the Harriet Cohen International Music Award in London.

In the mid-1960s Janis stopped performing because of illness (arthritis), returning to the stage in 1972, though he never fully overcame the condition and performed much less frequently thereafter. In 1967, while in France, he discovered previously unknown manuscripts of waltzes by Fre9de9ric Chopin, a find that caused a sensation in the musical world and led to a film and many articles.

In 1985, by invitation of President Ronald Reagan, Janis gave a concert at the White House. From 1988 he became active as a composer, writing mainly for film and television, and he also taught and supported young musicians through festivals and charitable foundations. Celebrated as a virtuoso with flawless technique, vivid temperament, and strong musicality, his repertoire was wide, but he was especially known for interpretations of music from the first half of the 20th century, from Rachmaninoff to Prokofiev.

Janis received numerous international honors, including the French Order of Arts and Letters (as the first American pianist to receive it) and the Grand Prix du Disque. He died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York at the age of 95. He was married from 1966 to Maria Cooper Janis (born 1937), an actress and producer and the daughter of film actor Gary Cooper.

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