Janusz Olejniczak, the distinguished Polish musician and teacher who played the piano parts in the 2002 Oscar-winning movie “The Pianist,” passed away on Sunday following a heart attack, his family said in a statement Monday. He was 72.
The family said Olejniczak’s “extraordinary musical sensitivity, especially in the interpretations of music by Frédéric Chopin, brought him international fame and recognition.”
The Polish National Frédéric Chopin Institute called him “one of the most important Polish pianists of the last hundred years.”
“He knew how to share the beauty of music not only with his loving audience, performing almost every year at the "Chopin and His Europe" festivals, but also with young musicians, for whom he was an authority, an open and empathetic mentor.”
Composer and conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk, a personal friend, shared that he had lunch with Olejniczak hours before his passing, discussing his “great plans” that he was determined to see through despite his health issues.
Speaking of his friend, he said Olejniczak’s “sensitive soul and extraordinary talent transpired throughout his interpretations” in which he created a “unique aura.”
Commentators said Olejniczak bore a physical resemblance to the romantic-era composer, a trait that even led Olejniczak to play the role of Chopin in the 1991 movie “The Blue Note.” The film, directed by Andrzej Zulawski, covers the last few days of the ailing composer’s life as his relationship with author George Sand draws to a close.
A decade later, director Roman Polanski approached Olejniczak to record the piano parts for his acclaimed 2002 “The Pianist,” a film based on the life of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, as he survives the Nazi occupation in Warsaw ghetto. The hands seen playing the piano in the movie belong to Olejniczak.
“The Pianist” earned Polanski an Oscar for best director, and lead actor Adrien Brody won the Oscar for best actor.
In the same year, Olejniczak also recorded the soundtrack for the Jerzy Antczak biopic “Chopin, Desire for Love.”
Olejniczak’s repertory includes compositions of Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Ravel, and Prokofiev, although Chopin remained his lifelong favorite.
In addition to the classics, Olejniczak also performed contemporary music, including that by the acclaimed, late Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, best known ffor his film score to Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 masterpiece “Bram Stoker's Dracula.”
Olejniczak was born on Oct. 2, 1952, and began playing piano at the age of 6. He studied in Warsaw, Paris, and Essen, and later became a respected juror at the Chopin Institute’s five-yearly International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition—one of the most prestigious and longest running piano competitions in the world, dating back to 1927.