Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a Polish pianist, composer, and statesman born on November 6, 1860, in Kurylivka. He graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1878 and later served as a piano tutor at the institution. In 1884, he met actress Helena Modjeska, who organized a public concert in Kraków to fund his further studies in Vienna with Theodor Leschetizky. Paderewski debuted in Vienna in 1887 and performed in Paris, London, and the United States between 1889 and 1891. His compositions included the opera Manru (1901), the Symphony in B minor "Polonia" (1909), and the Minuet in G major. In 1919, he served as the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland and signed the Treaty of Versailles. Following his political career, he resumed musical performances at Carnegie Hall in 1922. He appeared in the 1937 film Moonlight Sonata. In 1940, he became head of the National Council of Poland in London. Paderewski died of pneumonia on June 29, 1941, in New York. Posthumous releases included Chopin Grand Piano (1998) and Ignace Jan Paderewski: Enregistrements de jeunesse (2008).
