“Yesterday we met, and now it turned out to be the last time. It’s hard to say goodbye to a Friend and a Great Artist, Janusz Olejniczak is someone who cannot be imitated and cannot be replaced, hence the pain,” Ewa and Jerzy Maksymiuk wrote on Facebook. IAR was the first to report the artist’s death.
Olejniczak and Chopin’s music
Olejniczak used to say that for him Chopin’s music “is like a bird of paradise that keeps slipping out of your hands.” “Only sometimes you manage to capture its essence, get closer to it. It offers infinite possibilities of interpretation, allows you to constantly work on your own aesthetics, on shaping your tastes, gives you a chance to look at the same piece differently, to have an individual and constantly new approach” – we read on website of the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute, on whose Program Board he sat.
At the beginning of his career, Olejniczak was convinced that he would not become famous without participating in the International Chopin Competition. In 1970, at the age of 18, he competed as the youngest participant in the 8th International Piano Competition. Fryderyk Chopin in Warsaw. He was awarded the 6th prize.
Janusz Olejniczak – biography
Janusz Olejniczak was born on October 2, 1952 in Wrocław. He started learning to play the piano at the age of six. After moving to Warsaw, he graduated from primary and secondary music schools. In both schools, his teacher was Luiza Walewska. In the years 1967-1969 he studied under Ryszard Bakst and Zbigniew Drzewiecki.
In 1969, he performed at the International Rostrum of Young Performers in Paris. In 1972, he received the 4th prize at the International Competition. Alfredo Caselli in Naples. Then he went to Paris to study piano individually with Konstanty Schmaeling and Witold Małcużyński.
After returning to the country, he graduated from the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw in the class of prof. Barbara Hesse-Bukowska. He completed postgraduate studies with Wiktor Mierżanow in Warsaw and Paul Badura-Skoda in Essen.
Janusz Olejniczak – artistic achievements
Olejniczak has performed all over the world. He played under the baton of, among others, Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Charles Dutoit, Jacek Kaspszyk, Kazimierz Kord, Grzegorz Nowak, Marek Moś.
He has collaborated many times in recording music for films, in Poland and around the world. He composed music for the film “The Pianist” directed by Roman Polanska (2002). The soundtrack achieved Gold Record status in Poland. Olejniczak also recorded most of the piano parts for the film “Chopin: The Desire for Love”.
The pianist has also acted as an actor. In the film “Blue Note” directed by Andrzej Żuławski (1991) played the role of Chopin. He was one of the jurors of the International Chopin Competition.
In 1999, he received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 2005 he was honored with the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis. (PAP)
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