Byron Janis (born March 24, 1928) is an American classical pianist.
He made several recordings for RCA Victor and Mercury Records, and occupies two volumes of the Philips Great Pianists series. His discography covers repertoire from Beethoven to David W. Guion and includes renditions of major piano concertos from Mozart to Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. His pianism has been described as combining a Horowitzian technique with a sublime musicality aki...
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Byron Janis (born March 24, 1928) is an American classical pianist.
He made several recordings for RCA Victor and Mercury Records, and occupies two volumes of the Philips Great Pianists series. His discography covers repertoire from Beethoven to David W. Guion and includes renditions of major piano concertos from Mozart to Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. His pianism has been described as combining a Horowitzian technique with a sublime musicality akin to Alfred Cortot's. He has a special affinity for Chopin and made a French film on him that was shown around the world.
Janis was born Byron Yanks (a shortened form of his family's name, Yankilevich) in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, to Russian-Polish Jewish parents. He had his first piano lesson at age 4 with Abraham Litow, who had studied at the prestigious Music Conservatory in Leningrad. Janis studied with Litow until he was 7. When he was 7 he was taken to New York to study with Adele Marcus. Later, he studied at the Juilliard School with...
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