The prestigious pianist Byron Janis has died: he was 95 years old and managed to continue playing despite severe arthritis

Byron Janisa renowned American pianist and composer who broke barriers as a cultural ambassador in the Cold War era, has died at the age of 95. He had managed to overcome severe arthritis that had jeopardized his chances of continuing to play the instrument he had learned since childhood.

Janis died in a New York City hospital, according to his wife, Maria Cooper Janis. In a statement, she described her husband as her “an exceptional human being who took his talent to the highest heights”.

Byron, a child prodigy who studied with Vladimir Horowitz, By the end of the 1940s he positioned himself as one of the most famous virtuosos of a new generation of talented American pianists.

In 1960 he was selected as the first musician to tour the then Soviet Union as part of a cultural exchange program organized by the United States Department of State. His recitals of Chopin and Mozart amazed Russian audiences.or, and the diary The New York Times He described them as helping to break “the musical iron curtain”.

At the age of 45 he was diagnosed with a severe form of psoriatic arthritis in his hands and wrists.. Janis has kept this health problem a secret for more than a decade, and often I played the piano in unbearable pain.

“It was a life and death struggle every day, for many years”Janis later told the Chicago Tribune. “At all times I thought I wouldn’t be able to continue playing and that terrified me. After all, music was my life, my world, my passion.”

He publicly announced his diagnosis after a concert at the White House, when Ronald Reagan was president, in which it was announced that he would be spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation.

That health problem forced him to undergo several operations, and forced him to temporarily slow down his work pace. However, he was able to play the piano again after making changes to his playing techniquewhich reduced the pressure on his swollen fingers, and he remained active until his final days.