Chopin and Beyond: My Extraordinary Life in Music and the Paranormal - Hardcover

by Byron Janis (Author), Maria Cooper Janis (With)

One of the world's greatest classical pianists reveals how the ""other world"" transformed his life and career

By any measure, Byron Janis has had an extraordinary musical career. His discovery of two long-lost Chopin scores made headlines around the world, and he has been honored many times for his breathtaking performances of some of the most exciting and challenging works in the standard classical piano repertoire. As he retraces this remarkable journey in Chopin and Beyond, he shares something even more extraordinary: the other-worldly experiences that have shaped his life and music in surprising and profound ways.

• Shares milestones and memories from the life and musical career of one of the world's greatest pianists
• Includes lively anecdotes of famous classical musicians and other notable figures, including Vladimir Horowitz and Pablo Picasso
• Describes his long-secret but ultimately triumphant battle with arthritis
• Recounts the paranormal experiences that deepened his personal association with Chopin, effected near miraculous recoveries from serious accidents, and more

Like the best music, Chopin and Beyond will open your mind to explore the wonder and possibility of a different world.

Front Jacket

By any measure, Byron Janis has had an extraordinary musical career. His life outside the concert hall has been, if anything, even more remarkable. A serious injury at age eleven nearly ended his career before it began, and severe arthritis threatened to cut it short in his prime. He was the first American artist sent to the Soviet Union as part of the U.S/Soviet Cultural Exchange Program, and--not once, but twice--he discovered original Chopin manuscripts that had previously been thought lost forever. Yet inextricably intertwined with all of these major events, Mr. Janis says, were other, less tangible, but even more profound, occurrences that can only be described as paranormal.

In Chopin and Beyond, Mr. Janis tells the story of his glorious life in music; his many friendships with renowned artists, writers, and celebrities; and the frequent experiences that took him beyond the reach of the senses. Writing with candor and humility, he reveals how being open to forces that, so far, cannot be explained by science, has enriched both his life and his music.

Anyone who has heard Byron Janis play Chopin knows that he has a very special relationship with his music. He reveals for the first time some fascinating paranormal events he has experienced relating to the great composer. Mr. Janis explains the roles that his brilliant teacher Adele Marcus, his own determination, and synchronicity played in his recovery from the household accident that severed both a nerve and a tendon in his left pinkie. He also reveals how his openness to the paranormal has helped him to continue performing decades after his crippling arthritis should have ended his career.

As the first student of legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, Mr. Janis offers a vivid portrait of this musical genius as a challenging teacher, hilarious companion, and complex and difficult friend. He also admits to a bittersweet romance with Horowitz's wife, Wanda, the daughter of famed conductor Arturo Toscanini.

Among Mr. Janis's many lively anecdotes, his priceless stories about Picasso are particularly memorable, filled with vibrant examples of the painter's personal generosity and impish sense of humor. Mr. Janis and his wife, Maria Cooper Janis, recount their simultaneous dreams during the early morning hours of the day Picasso died.

Complete with dozens of photos from important moments in Mr. Janis's life, both onstage and off, Chopin and Beyond is a must-read for Byron Janis fans, music lovers of all kinds, and anyone who wonders whether there is more to life and the universe than four immutable dimensions.

Back Jacket

Praise for Byron Janis and "Chopin And Beyond"

"Byron Janis's life has been the stuff of music and of magic--and so is his extraordinary autobiography. From Chopin to Horowitz to Pablo Picasso, from the Soviet Union in the thick of the Cold War to otherworldly dimensions in which the unexpected happens, he has been on a remarkable and compelling ride. Don't think classical music, global politics, and the paranormal can mix? You will."
--Jeffrey Kluger, coauthor of "Apollo 13"

"Byron Janis's autobiography is both intimate and revealing, providing us a remarkable window into the soul and spirit of one of America's most gifted musical artists. But it is much more than that. One also experiences a concert pianist's struggle to come to terms with the debilitating onslaught of arthritis. From these ashes a phoenix rises to share with us a deeper inner journey that is inspiring and uplifting--what it means to triumph against odds, to confront and accept the reality of paranormal experiences, to be open to being truly alive in a universe full of wonder--a truly unique portrait of one of the greatest artists of our time."
--Hal Puthoff, Ph.D., theoretical and experimental physicist

"A fascinating story of the courage and perseverance of one of the great pianists of the twentieth century and the present. I have been a fan of his for many years, and this very personal story makes me admire him even more."
--Emanuel Ax, concert pianist

"A wonderful and poignant story from a great musician of the modern period. An important read on important and interesting topics, including his intuitive gifts."
--Edgar Mitchell, Sc.D., Ph.D, Apollo astronaut, founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences

"Byron Janis shares the unspoken challenges of living with a debilitating form of arthritis that tested his spirit and threatened his career as a piano virtuoso. His story of perseverance, courage, and triumph will inspire anyone who has faced a formidable obstacle."
--John H. Klippel, M.D., President and CEO, Arthritis Foundation

Author Biography

BYRON JANIS is a living legend of the classical music world and is renowned for both the power and the sensitivity of his interpretations. After hiding the painful arthritis that had plagued him for twelve years, he accepted the role of artistic spokesman for the Arthritis Foundation in the 1980s. Today, he gives lectures and performances, teaches master classes, composes, and writes regularly for the "Wall Street Journal." Mr. Janis's life is also the subject of the public television documentary "The Byron Janis Story," released nationally in late October 2010.

His wife, MARIA COOPER JANIS, the daughter of actor Gary Cooper, is a talented painter, has collaborated on three television specials, has been a parapsychology researcher for many years, and is an active board member of the American Society for Psychical Research. The Janises live in New York City.