Janusz Olejniczak

Janusz Olejniczak studied at Chopin University of Music. The recorded working language is Polish. The field of work recorded is music, piano performance and acting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Golden Medal for Merit to Culture, Złoty Fryderyk and Commander with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Olejniczak was born in Wrocław on 2 October 1952. He began playing piano at the age of six. The family moved to Warsaw where he had piano lessons from Luiza Walewska; he was trained by Ryszard Bakst and Zbigniew Drzewiecki from 1967 to 1969. In 1970, he placed sixth in the VIII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, and two years later he placed fourth in the Alfredo Casella Piano Competition in Naples. He studied in Paris with Constantine Schmaeling and Witold Małcużyński from 1971 to 1973. He returned to Poland where he studied at the Higher State School of Music in Warsaw with Barbara Hesse-Bukowska. He completed post-graduate studies from 1977 to 1978 with Victor Merzhanov in Warsaw and with Paul Badura-Skoda at the Folkwangschule in Essen.

Olejniczak was a member of a chamber orchestra, and his repertory included compositions of Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, Ravel, and Prokofiev. He played contemporary music also, such as works by Wojciech Kilar. He was the soloist in the world premiere of Giya Kancheli's Valse Boston for piano and orchestra in 1979. Olejniczak played Chopin's music on both instruments from his era and modern pianos, in juxtaposition. He performed and recorded on historic instruments such as Érard and Pleyel, with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century conducted by Frans Brüggen.

In addition to performing the composer's music, he portrayed Chopin in the 1991 film Blue Note, directed by Andrzej Żuławski, actually resembling the composer in appearance. He performed piano music in the film The Pianist (directed by Roman Polanski), also appearing as the hand double for Adrien Brody, who portrays pianist Władysław Szpilman.

Olejniczak died of a heart attack on 20 October 2024, at the age of 72.