| Biography | Janusz Piotrowicz was born in England of Polish refugees. He began piano lessons, aged two, with his mother, and at seven made his Rome début in the presence of Pope John XXIII. At eleven, he was offered scholarships to the Warsaw Conservatoire and Eton College, where he became the first Honorary Music Scholar in the history of the school. Gifted with an innate and profound musical understanding far beyond his years, and irrepressible enthusiasm, he made his mark at school and college with epic recital programmes, spanning the entire repertoire from Beethoven to Prokofiev and was described as a comet by his tutors. The Oxford Times wrote after his performance at All Souls College in 1978 of the Liszt B minor Sonata and Beethovens Hammerklavier: infinitely musicianly
alive to the constructional virtues, not less than the emotional content, keen understanding of the prophetic writing in this sonata
ability to penetrate into the vast landscape of Beethovens creation
infinite depth and breadth of expression
authoritative, magisterial
These same qualities are the essence of his work as conductor. He began at school, forming his own orchestra and initiating his own personal discipline of conducting from memory. A musician of extraordinary communicative powers, his unique, highly developed conducting technique the fluidity of his style .. allows the imagination of the players to soar its very operatic (Miklos Perenyi) and the intense spiritual quality of his musicianship, produces revelatory performances
Whilst at the Royal College of Music, where amongst other prizes, he won the Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal for the most distinguished student - he made his London recital début with the Brahms Paganini Variations and the second and third sonatas of Chopin, performed Rachmaninovs Third Piano Concerto at Windsor Castle, staged cycles of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos and Sonatas in England, Poland and the USSR, made his début at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, broadcast on Polish and USSR Radio and was a prizewinner in the Warsaw International Chopin Competition. In 1994 he was invited to perform to 5,000 people at the Chopin Memorial in the Royal Lazienki Park, Warsaw, during the ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, and was honoured with the Gold Medal of the Chopin Society of Poland
Janusz has toured in Canada, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and throughout the UK, receiving the highest tributes from critics for his qualities of poetry and sensitivity magical tonal mastery
a velvet touch Il Tempi, Rome white hot intensity The Western Australian. His tours have also included extensive work in piano and chamber-music masterclasses and orchestral coaching with young people who are inspired by his enlightened teaching.
He has conducted the London Bach Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Opera North, the Goldberg Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, and he created lOrchestre du Monde from international soloists, conducting them in London concerts including Bachs Mass in B minor at the Royal Albert Hall (with Marjana Lipovsek, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Hermann Baumann, Michael Laird) - a performance described as sublime
the finest within living memory
In 2007 he conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle at the Cadogan Hall, London
Janusz was Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Ripon International Festival which presents symphony, choral and chamber concerts in the magnificent setting of Ripon Cathedral as well as recitals, drama and poetry in ancient village churches and period houses. The festival celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2007 with a concert by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, visiting Ripon for the first time |