Piotr Janowski

Piotr Janowski (5 February 1951 – 6 December 2008) was a Polish violinist and first Polish winner of the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition.

Janowski was born in Grudziądz, Poland. At the age of 16 in 1967, he won the V International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań, Poland. He graduated with distinction from The Higher State School of Music in Warsaw where he completed the five-year course in one academic year in the class of Irena Dubiska (1969–1970).

He continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Ivan Galamian and later at the Juilliard School of Music in New York as pupil of Galamian and Zino Francescatti. In 1974, invited by Henryk Szeryng and Zino Francescatti, Janowski studied at the Summer Masterclass in Montreux, Switzerland. Between 1975 and 1977 he was a private scholar of Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

He was a citizen of Poland and the United States; he also was an honorary citizen of Arkansas, USA and the city of Cognac, France.

He died in London, United Kingdom, and is buried at Powązki cemetery in Warsaw.

Artistic activity As a soloist Janowski played with the most important orchestras in the United States and Europe, including New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. He cooperated with Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Slatkin, Eugene Ormandy, Erich Leinsdorf, Stanisław Wisłocki, Andrzej Markowski, Bogusław Madey, Karol Stryja, William Smith and Walter Hendel.

He was accompanied by Mieczysław Horszowski, Arthur Balsam, Peter Serkin, Franco Agostini, Wolfgang Plagge, Jerzy Lefeld, Maciej Paderewski, Jerzy Marchwiński, Zofia Vogtman, Paul Berkowitz, Cynthia Raim, Roman Markowicz, Steven Meyer, Golda Tetz and his wife, Joanna Maklakiewicz.

Since 1976 Janowski was a member of the New Arts Trio. He took part in numerous music festivals (Marlboro, VT, Chautauqua, NY, Dimitrios and Warsaw Autumn). He was lecturer at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee, Eastman School of Music in Rochester, state New York and Barratt-Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway. He led masterclasses at Conservatorio di Bologna, Thessaloniki Conservatory, Ohio State University, Columbus, Evenstone, The Oberlin College and Northwestern University.

The violin he played was a 1722 Guarneri del Gesu.

Prizes First Prize at Fifth International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, Poznań, Poland, 1967 First Prize at Philadelphia Orchestra Competition, Philadelphia, USA, 1972 First Prize at G. B. Dealey Competition, Dallas, USA, 1974 First Prize (together with New Arts Trio, consisted: Rebecca Penneys – piano, Steven Doane - cello) at The Walter W. Naumburg Competition, New York, USA, 1979 First Prize (together with New Arts Trio, consisted: Rebecca Penneys – piano, Steven Doane - cello) at The Walter W. Naumburg Competition, New York, USA, 1980

World first performances 1968, Warsaw, Poland – Marian Sawa Improvisazione for violin solo 1969, Warsaw, Poland – Grażyna Bacewicz VII Violin Concerto (Warsaw Autumn, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrzej Markowski - conductor) 1976, New York, USA – David Diamond III Violin Concerto (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein - conductor) 1980, Madison, USA – Yehuda Yannay Concertino for Violin and Chamber Orchestra 1980, Milwaukee, USA – Burt Levy Chamber Music for Violin Alone 1980, New York, USA – Robert Moevs Introduction and Presto for piano trio 1982, Rochester, USA – John Harbison Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano 1982, New York, USA – Sidney Hodgkison Piano Trio 1983, New York USA – John Eaton In Mernoriam Mario Cristini - Trio 1991, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil – Emani Aguiar Meloritmas 44 1994, Oslo, Norway – Wolfgang Plagge Asteroide Suite for violin and piano 1994, Oslo, Norway – Wolfgang Plagge Rhapsody for violin solo 1997, Poznań, Poland – Wolfgang Plagge Sonata for violin and piano 1998, Oslo, Norway – Wolfgang Plagge Lucky Man House – chamber music with dancers

Recordings W. A. Mozart Violin Concerto in D Major KV 218, K. Szymanowski I Violin Concerto op. 35 (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Stanisław Wisłocki - conductor), 1969, Muza J. Brahms 2 Sonatas for piano and violin in A Major op. 100 and in d minor op. 108 (Maciej Paderewski - piano), 1970, Muza G. Bacewicz VII Violin Concerto (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrzej Markowski - conductor), 1969, Muza M. Ravel Piano Trio, G. Fauré Piano Trio (New Arts Trio), 1982, Pantheon L. van Beethoven Piano Trio in B-flat Major op. 97 ‘Archduke’ (New Arts Trio), 1983, Chamber Music Society of Rochester F. Kreisler, F. Grieg, H. Wieniawski and others, Rose in the snow – Short pieces for violin and piano (Wolfgang Plagge - piano), 1997, Norske Gram F. Busoni Sonatas for violin and piano (Franco Agostini - piano), 1998, Phoenix Classics A. Hovhaness, C. Saint-Saëns, M. Ravel and others Garden of Adonis – compositions for violin and harp (Małgorzata Milewska-Sundberg - harp), 2000, Porsgrunn Museum H. Wieniawski All works (Wolfgang Plagge – piano) – CD nr 1 (2000), CD nr 2 (2005), 2L Records (Aura)