Acclaimed American classical pianist Byron Janis has died at the age of 95. His wife, Maria Cooper Janis, said her husband died Thursday evening in New York City. Janis studied as a childhood prodigy under Vladimir Horowitz and emerged in the late 1940s as one of the most celebrated virtuosos of a new generation of American concert pianists.
NEW YORK — Byron Janis , 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, has died. He was 95.
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 recitals of Chopin and Mozart awed Russian audiences and were described by the New York Times as helping to break “the musical iron curtain.”
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. Janis kept the condition secret for over a decade, often playing through excruciating pain.. “At every point, I thought of not being able to continue performing, and it terrified me. Music, after all, was my life, my world, my passion.”
Byron Janis American Pianist Composer Cold War Era Culture Ambassador Severe Arthritis Death
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