Janusz Olejniczak, who played the piano parts in the Oscar-winning film “The Pianist,” has died at the age of 72

WARSAW, Poland – Polish musician and teacher Janusz Olejniczak, who played the piano parts in the Oscar-winning 2002 film “The Pianist,” has died at age 72, his family said Monday.

A family statement to the media said Olejniczak died of a heart attack on Sunday.

The statement said that his “extraordinary musical sensitivity, particularly in the interpretations of the music of Frédéric Chopin, brought him international fame and recognition.”

Aleksander Laskowski, a spokesman for the national Frederic Chopin Institute, said staff were “deeply saddened” by Olejniczak’s death.

Laskowski described him as “one of the most outstanding contemporary interpreters of Chopin’s music”, including on historical instruments, and as an excellent teacher.

Composer and conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk, with whom he was a personal friend, said Olejniczak’s “sensitive soul and extraordinary talent were expressed in his interpretations,” in which he created a “unique aura.”

Maksymiuk said he had lunch with Olejniczak on Sunday and they discussed his “big plans” that he was determined to pursue despite his health problems.

Olejniczak’s international career began in 1970 when, at the age of just 18, he was a prizewinner at the 8th International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Commentators said he bore a physical resemblance to the Romantic composer, a trait that even led Olejniczak to play the role of Chopin in director Andrzej Zulawski’s 1991 film “The Blue Note.”

In 2002, Olejniczak recorded the piano parts for Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. In the film, for which Polanski won the Oscar for Best Director and Adrien Brody won Best Actor, his hands can be seen playing the piano.

Olejniczak also played contemporary music, including by the celebrated late Polish composer Wojciech Kilar.

Olejniczak was born on October 2, 1952 in Wroclaw and began his piano training at the age of 6. He studied in Warsaw, Paris and Essen. He was a member of the jury of the Chopin Piano Competition for many years and, since 2018, of the two editions of the Chopin Competition for Historical Instruments.