Janusz Piotrowicz, born in England of Polish refugees, is a prolific conductor and pianist. 

He began piano lessons aged two with his Mother, gave his first public recital aged five and made his Rome début aged seven in the presence of Pope John XXIII
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Aged eleven, he was offered scholarships to the Warsaw Conservatoire, and Eton College - where he became the first Honorary Music Scholar in the history of the school. Tutored in the Heinrich Neuhaus tradition, and gifted with an innate and profound musical understanding far beyond his years, he made his mark at Eton with epic recital programmes, and was described as ‘a comet’ by his tutors. He also formed his own orchestra, initiating a personal discipline of conducting all rehearsals and concerts from memory
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Whilst a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, where he was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Medal for being the most distinguished student of his generation, he made his London recital début with the Brahms Paganini Variations and the Second and Third Sonatas of Chopin, performed Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto at Windsor Castle, staged cycles of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Concertos in England, Poland and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, and won the Nawrocki Prize for the most poetic interpreter in the Warsaw International Chopin Competition
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He has toured in Denmark, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, and throughout the UK, receiving the highest tributes from critics for his qualities of poetry and sensitivity. 

‘Magical tonal mastery … a velvet touch’  Il Tempi, Rome 
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‘White hot intensity’  The West Australian 
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‘Runs and roulades soft as pearls, rather than hard and bright like diamonds’  Faro de Vigo, Spain

These same characteristics are the essence of his work as a conductor:

‘Janusz Piotrowicz has something of a reputation for generating high octane performances and this was already evident in the opening work...Come the Violin Concerto he met his match in Alexandra Soumm, but it made for a perfect match, for this was one of the finest performances of the work I have ever heard. It positively sizzled, but not at the expense of the lovely Mendelssohnian lyricisms.  The three component parts of orchestra, conductor and soloist were interpretively at one ... many interpretations of the Pastoral take a fairly relaxed view of Beethoven’s rustic world; Piotrowicz’s countryside, however, was a place of colour-heightened vibrancy - this country tour kept moving, there being a sense of constant latent energy that helped breathe new life into an old favourite’ Music Web International
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‘Fresh and spontaneous...atmospheric contrasts…were especially ravishing... the Andante Religioso was sublime… celestial surrealism...power and introspection...a profound performance’ The Guardian
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‘With the finale we were plunged into a raging torrent of emotions as Piotrowicz directed a powerhouse of a performance which was unrelenting in its forward thrust, and at the end, with all passions spent, the bald chord for winds and brass was equivocal, leaving one wondering what, exactly, the composer was trying to tell us. This chimed perfectly with my own feelings about what Dvořák felt about his American sojourn. This was spine-tingling stuff.  The Royal Philharmonic was on top form, responsive and alert to everything Piotrowicz demanded of them’ Music Web International
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‘Rarely will you hear the anger and bitterness of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony unleashed with such unremitting force and acerbity.  It took the Orchestra of Opera North to the edge of their combined virtuosity, strings digging deep into their instruments to match the power of the brass blow for blow, percussion capping the enormous climaxes.  The Allegro was taken just about as fast as any orchestra could tackle, but it worked in adding that final tingle factor.  It was a powerhouse approach ... though in the moments when the composer looked forward to peace, the woodwind floated beautifully as if suspended on air’ Yorkshire Post

Recent highlights include a searing Tchaikovsky 6 with the Hallé, Mahler 1 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ with Royal Northern Sinfonia, Shostakovich 10 with the Orchestra of Opera North, and Dvorak 9 (2010), Tchaikovsky 5 (2011) and Beethoven 5 (2012) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, London. In 2007 he conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle in London
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Janusz Piotrowicz follows the philosophy of the Shaolin Temple in China through the rigorous discipline of Qi Gong and Gong Fu, and his many passions include the study of European history and heraldry, Mayan and Aztec culture, languages, law, comedy, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, and walking in the Salzkammergut, whose lakes and mountains were a source of inspiration for Schubert, Brahms and Mahler
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PROJECTS
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The World Trust:  His witnessing of human degradation and suffering - seen particularly on tours of Southern Africa, where he visited Soweto during the apartheid era - led Janusz to create The World Trust, which has supported over fifty causes in forty countries as a result of his concerts around the world  
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L’Orchestre du Monde:  Created from the world’s finest musicians, to promote and support humanitarian causes across the globe, Janusz conducts his Orchestra in London concerts. His performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor, with Chorale du Monde, at the Royal Albert Hall, was described as: ‘sublime … the finest within living memory’  
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Ripon International Festival:  The three-week September festival, now in its seventeenth year, of which Janusz is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director, presents symphony, concerto and choral concerts in Ripon Cathedral and the Royal Hall, Harrogate, and extensive programmes of chamber music, jazz, folk, world music, drama, celebrity writers and puppetry, in a variety of historic and atmospheric venues in North Yorkshire