Editing Byron Janis

{{Short description|American classical pianist (1928–2024)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{COI|date=February 2018}}
{{sources|date=March 2024}}
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{{Infobox person
| name               = Byron Janis
| image              = Byron Janis 1962.JPG
| caption            = Janis in 1962
| birth_name         = Byron Yanks
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1928|3|24}}
| birth_place        = [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2024|3|14|1928|3|24}}
| death_place        = New York City, U.S.
| occupation         = [[Classical music|classical]] [[pianist]]
| years_active       = 1940–2024
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|June Dickson Wright|1953|1965|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Maria Cooper|1966|}}
}}
| children           = 1
| family             = [[Gary Cooper]] (father-in-law)<br/>[[Veronica Cooper]] (mother-in-law)
| website            = {{URL|http://www.byronjanis.com}}
}}

'''Byron Janis''' (né '''Yanks'''; March 24, 1928 – March 14, 2024) was an American classical pianist. He made numerous recordings for [[RCA Victor]] and [[Mercury Records]], and occupies two volumes of the Philips series ''Great Pianists of the 20th Century''. His discography covered repertoire from [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] to David W. Guion and included major piano concertos from [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] to [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]] and [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] to [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]].

==Biography==
Janis was born '''Byron Yanks''' in [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]], on March 24, 1928, the younger of two children of Hattie Horelick and Samuel Yankilevitch, who had shortened his surname to Yanks after emigrating to America, before finally setting on the surname Janis.<ref name = Kozinn>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/arts/music/byron-janis-dead.html|title = Byron Janis, Pianist of Romantic Passion, Dies at 95|last = Kozinn|first = Allan|date = March 17, 2024|accessdate = March 17, 2024|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|url-access = limited}}</ref>{{sfn|Pula|2010|pp=201–202}}{{sfn|Siek|2016|p=82}} His parents were [[Russian Jews]].{{sfn|Siek|2016|p=82}} After demonstrating perfect pitch on a toy xylophone in kindergarten, Janis studied with Abraham Litow until he was 8 years old.{{sfn|Pula|2010|pp=201–202}}<ref>"Nurturing Creativity in the Next Generation", Byron Janis, Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2010, page D7</ref> Byron moved to New York with his mother and sister in 1936 to study with [[Josef Lhévinne|Josef]] and [[Rosina Lhévinne]], and a year later, he began studying with their associate, [[Adele Marcus]], who would remain his teacher for six years.{{sfn|Pula|2010|pp=201–202}} When Marcus moved to [[Dallas]] in 1941, Yanks followed her there to continue his piano studies. He remained in Texas for three years, attending [[Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas)|Woodrow Wilson High School]].<ref>"A musical and literary foray into Dallas" by Joyce Saenz Harris. ''The Dallas Morning News'', 31 October 1999, p. 3 E.</ref> Byron Yanks made his recital debut in 1937 at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, and a year later, his musical sponsor, Samuel Chotzinoff, persuaded him to change his name to Byron Jannes; he would later change the spelling to Janis.{{sfn|Pula|2010|pp=201–202}}

After attending one of Janis' concerts in Pittsburgh in 1944, at which he played [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Concerto No. 2]], [[Vladimir Horowitz]] offered to take the fifteen-year-old on as his first pupil. Janis studied with Horowitz from 1944 until 1948. Horowitz had advised Janis to concertize to build self-confidence and stage presence, so he postponed his successful [[Carnegie Hall]] debut until 1948.{{sfn|Pula|2010|pp=201–202}}

Janis was also a composer. He wrote music for musical theater, including the score for a 1993 [[Off-Broadway]] adaptation of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame]]'', for television shows, and in collaboration on several pieces with [[Cy Coleman]].<ref>Terry Teachout, ''The Wall Street Journal'', March 22, 2017</ref>

In 1967, Janis accidentally unearthed what ''[[The New York Times]]'' called "That rarest of all musical items...",<ref>''The New York Times'', December 21, 1967, page 1</ref> two previously unknown manuscripts of published Chopin waltzes (Op. 18 and Op. 70, No. 1) at the Chateau de Thoiry in France. Several years later, Janis found the same two waltzes in different versions at Yale University. These manuscripts were published together in the 1978 book ''The Most Dramatic Musical Discovery of the Age''.<ref name=Kozinn/>

In 1973, Janis developed severe arthritis in both hands and wrists. In 1985, he talked about his difficulties in public for the first time and became the First Ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation.<ref name=Kozinn/> In June 2012, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Arthritis Advocacy.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Pianist Byron Janis dies at 95 |date=19 March 2024 |url=https://www.pianistmagazine.com/news/pianist-byron-janis-dies-at-95/ |magazine=Pianist Magazine}}</ref>

Janis and his wife, Maria Cooper, daughter of screen actor [[Gary Cooper]], wrote his autobiography ''Chopin and Beyond: My Extraordinary Life in Music and the Paranormal'', which was released in 2010.{{sfn|Siek|2016|p=82}} [[Sony]] also released an eleven-CD set in 2011 which reissued the [[LP record|LP]]s he made for [[RCA]] and [[Mercury Records]] during the 1950s and 1960s.{{sfn|Siek|2016|p=82}} In the DVD ''A Voyage With Byron Janis'', he hosts a musical journey through Chopin's life. In 2016, it was reported that [[Martin Scorsese]] was developing a Byron Janis biopic for [[Paramount Pictures]] from a script by Peter Glanz, adapted from Janis' autobiography.<ref>Dave McNary, Variety, January 7, 2016</ref>

Janis died at a hospital in [[Manhattan]], New York, on March 14, 2024, at the age of 95.<ref name=Kozinn/>

==Honors==
{{unreferenced section| date=March 2024}}
Janis received several awards and honors including: 
* Commander of the French Légion d'Honneur for Arts and Letters
* Grand Prix du Disque
* Stanford Fellowship, the highest honor of Yale University 
* Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award

He received an honorary doctorate at Trinity College and the gold medal from the French Society for the Encouragement of Progress, the first musician to receive this honor since its inception in 1906. He was invited six times by four sitting Presidents to perform at the White House and was written into the Congressional Record of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, honoring him as "a musician, a diplomat and an inspiration." He was featured in the PBS documentary, by Emmy-award-winning producer Peter Rosen, ''The Byron Janis Story'', which highlighted his struggles with arthritis.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*Ardoin, John, Great Pianists of the 20th Century, Philips, 1999, Set I on Byron Janis
*Chesnut, Daniel Lawrence. "One Of My Favorite Artists Vladimir Samoylovych Horowitz". Artists Are The Breath Of Creation
* {{cite news |last1=Conley |first1=Mikaela |title=Byron Janis: World Renown Pianist Despite Pain |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/byron-janis-spreads-awareness-psoriatic-arthritis/story?id=13295207 |work=ABC News |language=en |date=4 April 2011}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pula |first1=James S. |title=The Polish American Encyclopedia |date=22 December 2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-6222-3 |pages=201–202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Ij0EAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Siek |first1=Stephen |title=A Dictionary for the Modern Pianist |date=10 November 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-8880-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXQ1DQAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Janis, Byron |page=82}}

==External links==
*[https://www.byronjanislive.com/ Official website]
*[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0417638/?ref_=nv_sr_1 IMDb profile]
* {{discogs artist|Byron Janis}}
 
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janis, Byron}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American classical pianists]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American classical pianists]]
[[Category:American male classical pianists]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American child classical musicians]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Jewish American classical musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish classical pianists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania]]