Byron Janis, one of the leading US pianists in the 1950s and ’60s, has died at 95.
The Pittsburgh-born Janis moved to New York to study with Josef and Rosina Lhevinne and later was a pupil of Vladimir Horowitz. He made his concert debut in 1944, playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, and was famed at the peak of his career for playing virtuoso works from the Russian school, as well as Chopin. A number of his recordings have remained in circulation.
In the 1970s, Janis began to suffer from psoriatic arthritis in the hands and wrists, but he continued to perform. He quit the stage several times, but still gave occasional concerts into the late 1990s. He taught for many years at the Manhattan School of Music, and composed songs, theater and film music.
An obituary by Allan Kozinn for The New York Times:
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