BIOGRAPHY

Byron Janis is renowned internationally as one of the world’s greatest concert pianists. In 1988, he was honored by President Reagan at a State Dinner at the White House marking the 40^th anniversary of his highly acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall that launched his brilliant career. 

In 1960, he was chosen as the first American artist to be sent to the Soviet Union to open the Cultural Exchange between the USSR and the United States. He has made many recordings and was asked by the French in 1978 to make a television special on the life of Frederic Chopin. This was shown on PBS in the United States, as well as in different countries around the world.

In 1973, he developed psoriatic arthritis in both hands and wrists yet he continued his performing career and even made two highly acclaimed CDs. In 1986, he became a spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation as its National Ambassador to the Arts.

Among his honors are, Commander of the French Legion d’Honneur for Arts and Letters, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Stanford Fellowship (the highest honor of Yale University) and the Distinguished Pennsylvania Artists Award (past recipients include James Michener, Marion Anderson, James Stewart and Bill Cosby). He received an honorary doctorate at Trinity College and recently, 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 has been featured many times on major television interview and talk programs and has composed the music for a musical theater production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the score for the feature film documentary The True Gen: Cooper and Hemingway – a 20 Year Friendship. He is currently completing his autobiography.