Piotr Janowski

Piotr Janowski with his wife Joanna Maklakiewicz

Piotr Janowski (born February 5, 1951 in Grudziądz ; died December 6, 2008 in London ) was a Polish violinist and the first Polish winner of the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition .

Life

As a student at the Szymanowski Academy of Music in Warsaw, he received first prize in 1967 at the age of 16 at the 5th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań. He then completed an academic year (1969/1970) at the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in the class of Professor Irena Dubiska .

In 1970 he was a Kosciuszko Foundation scholar and studied with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After completing the scholarship, he stayed in the United States and was at the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 1974–1975 . There he continued his studies with Galamian and Zino Francescatti . At the invitation of Henryk Szeryng and Zino Francescatti, he attended courses in Montreux (Switzerland) in the summer of 1974. From 1975 to 1977 he was a private student with Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

He was a citizen of Poland and the USA, an honorary citizen of the state of Arkansas (USA) and the city of Cognac (France). He is buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw .

Artistic activity

As a soloist he has performed with the major American and European orchestras - New York Philharmonic Orchestra , Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, National Philharmonic (Warsaw) and worked with such musicians as Leonard Bernstein , Leonard Slatkin , Eugene Ormandy , Erich Leinsdorf , Stanisław Wisłocki , Andrzej Markowski , Bogusław Madey , Karol Stryja , William Smith and Walter Hendel. He played with pianists Mieczysław Horszowski, Arthur Balsam, Peter Serkin, Franco Agostini, Wolfgang Plagge, Jerzy Lefeld, Maciej Paderewski and Jerzy Marchwiński, Zofia Vogtman, Paul Berkowitz, Cynthia Raim, Roman Markowicz, Steven Meyer, Golda Tetz and with his wife, Joanna Maklakiewicz. In 1977 he founded the New Arts Trio. He participated in the music festivals of Marlboro, VT, Chautauqua, NY, Dimitrios and Warsaw Autumn . He was a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and the Eastman School of Music Rochester in New York, Barratt-Due Institutt Oslo. He has also given master classes at the Conservatorio di Bologna, Thessaloniki Conservatory, Ohio State University, Columbus, The Oberlin College and at Northwestern University. He played a Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1722.

Awards

• First prize at the 5th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition, Poznań (Poland), 1967
• First prize at the Philadelphia Orchestra Competition, Philadelphia (USA), 1972
• 1st prize at the GB Dealy competition Dallas (USA), 1974
• First Prize (together with the New Arts Trio: Rebecca Penneys - piano, Steven Doane - cello) at The Walter W. Naumburg Competition, New York (USA), 1979
• First prize (together with new arts trio: Rebecca Penneys - piano, Steven Doane - cello) at the Walter W. Naumburg Competition, New York (USA), 1980

World premieres

• 1968, Warsaw (Poland) - Marian Sawa improvisation for solo violin
• 1969, Warsaw (Poland) - Grażyna Bacewicz Violin Concerto # 7 (Warsaw Autumn, Warsaw Philharmonic, conductor: Andrzej Markowski)
• 1976, New York (USA) - David Diamond Violin Concerto # 3 (New York Philharmonic, conductor: Leonard Bernstein)
• 1980, Madison (USA) - Yehuda Yannay Concertino
• 1980, Milwaukee (USA) - Burt Levy chamber music for violin alone
• 1980, New York (USA) - Robert Moev's introduction and Presto for piano trio
• 1982, Rochester (USA) - John Harbison , composer and conductor quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
• 1982, New York (USA) - Sidney Hodgkison Piano Trio
• 1983, New York (USA) - John Eaton In Memoriam Mario Cristini Trio
• 1991, Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) - Emani Aguiar 44 Meloritmas
• 1994, Oslo (Norway) - Wolfgang Plagge Asteroide Suite for violin and piano
• 1994, Oslo (Norway) - Wolfgang Plagge Rhapsody for violin solo
• 1997, Poznan (Poland) - Wolfgang Plagge Sonata for violin and piano
• 1998, Oslo (Norway) - Wolfgang Plagge Lucky Mann House is chamber music with dancers

Sound carrier recordings

• WA Mozart Violin Concerto in D major KV 218, K. Szymanowski, Violin Concerto No. 1 op.35 (Warsaw Philharmonic, conductor: Stanisław Wisłocki), 1969, Muza
• J. Brahms 2 sonatas for piano and violin in A major, op.100 and D minor, op.108 (Maciej Paderewski - Piano), 1970, Muza
• G. Bacewicz Violin Concerto No. 7 (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Andrzej Markowski), 1969, Muza
• M. Ravel Trio, G. Fauré Trio (New Arts Trio), 1982, Pantheon
• L. van Beethoven Piano Trio op.97-Archduke (New Arts Trio) 1983, Chamber Music Society of Rochester
• F. Kreisler, F. Grieg, H. Wieniawski and others, “En rose i snøen” (A rose in the snow - a collection of short works (Wolfgang Plagge - piano)), 1997, Norske Gramm
• 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 pieces for violin and harp (harp: Margaret Milevskaya-Sundberg), 2000, Porsgrunn Museum
• H. Wieniawski Complete Works (piano: Wolfgang Plagge) - Album No. 1 (2000), No. 2 (2005), 2 L Records (jpc)

literature

• Elżbieta Dziębowska, Encyklopedia muzyczna, t.4 HIJ, Kraków 1993, PWM
• Theodore Strongin, Janowski is heard in a violin recital, April 23, 1971, The New York Times
• Raymond Ericson, Music: Philharmonic. Bernstein Leads Works by Harris and Copland and Diamond Premiere, April 3, 1976, The New York Times
• Joseph Horowitz, 3 Polish Musicians in Tribute, May 20, 1978, The New York Times
• Harold C. Schonberg, Newport Opera to Do 3 Concerts a Day, July 5, 1978, The New York Times
• 2 Chamber Groups Win '80 Naumburg Awards, April 9, 1980, The New York Times
• Edward Rothstein, Concert: Chautauquans, Aug. 17, 1982, The New York Times
• John Rockwell, Concert: New Arts Trio at Alice Tully Hall, March 23, 1983, The New York Times
• Piotr Janowski gives the most exhilarating, refreshing Wieniawski playing I have heard in a long time - I cannot wait for volume 2 !, April 1, 2002, The Strad Magazine
• Anne Midgette, Music Review: A Lithuanian Legend's Century-Old Quartet, or Most of It, January 7, 2003, The New York Times

Web links

• Artist's CV (Polish)