Janusz Olejniczak

Pianist Janusz Olejniczak specialized in Chopin's music but had a repertory that extended from Beethoven to contemporary times. Olejniczak's playing, if not the pianist himself, became famous when he was heard on the soundtrack (and seen as a hand double) in the 2002 film The Pianist. Olejniczak left a substantial recording catalog that included both Polish releases and those on labels abroad. He was a fixture of the albums issued by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw. Olejniczak was born in Wrocław, Poland, on October 2, 1952. He took up the piano at age six. After his family moved to Warsaw, Olejniczak studied with Luisa Walewska, Ryszard Bakst, and Zbigniew Drzewiecki. The teenaged Olejniczak scored a breakthrough with a sixth-place finish in the VIII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He traveled to Paris for studies with the Chopin specialist Witold Małcużyński and Constantine Schmaeling in the early '70s and then returned to Poland, studying with Barbara Hesse Bukowska at the Higher State Music School in Warsaw. He rounded out his student career with studies at the Folkwang School in Essen, Germany, with Victor Merzhanov and Paul Badura-Skoda. In 1990, Olejniczak made his recording debut on the Camerata Records label with the album Chopin Recital. Olejniczak portrayed Chopin in the 1991 film Blue Note, where his physical resemblance to the composer was noted. He performed the piano music in Roman Polanski's 2002 film The Pianist, heard as a double for actor Adrien Brody. Olejniczak performed widely as a soloist and with a chamber orchestra. Although his repertory focused on Chopin, he played music from throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. He also enthusiastically supported contemporary music and was the soloist in the world premiere of Giya Kancheli's piano concerto Valse Boston in 1979. Olejniczak recorded for the Opus 111 label for many years and also released albums on Dux, Naïve, CD Accord, and other labels, including that of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, where he performed Chopin's two piano concertos on a 2015 release with conductor Frans Brüggen and the Orchestra of the 18th Century, and late in life, he took an interest in historical performances of Chopin. Olejniczak died on October 20, 2024, after a coronary episode. ~ James Manheim, Rovi