Photograph of Wojciech Kilar.

Wojciech Kilar (b. July 17, 1932 in Lwów, Poland now L'viv, Ukraine) is a Polish classical and film music composer.

Life

Kilar studied in Katowice and later on in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He has won several prizes for his works and belongs (together with Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Górecki) to the Polish avant-garde movement of the Sixties. His orchestral work Krzesany (Climbing up the mountains) from 1974 became famous, but since the mid 1970s he has become well known as a composer of film scores, increasingly in Hollywood (working with Roman Polanski). He is still publishing symphonic music, chamber works and works for solo instruments.

Works

Orchestral

• Small Overture (1955), for the Youth Festival, 1955
• Symphony for Strings (1955)
• Ode Béla Bartók in memoriam, for violin, brass, and percussion (1956)
• Riff 62 (1962)
• Generique (1963)
• Springfield Sonnet (1965)
• Prelude and Christmas Carol, for four oboes and string orchestra (1972)
• Krzesany (1974)
• Kóscielec (1976)
• Orawa, for string orchestra (1988)
• Choralvorspiel, for string orchestra, (1988)
• Requiem Father Kolbe, for symphony orchestra (1994)

Concertante

• Symphony Concertant, for piano and orchestra (1956)
• Piano Concerto (1996)

Chamber

• Flute Sonatina (1951)
• Woodwind Quintet (1952)
• Training 68, for clarinet, trombone, and piano, (1968)

Piano

Numerous solo piano pieces

Film music

• Nikt nie woÅ‚a (Nobody's calling) (1960)
• Tarpany (Wild Horses) (1962)
• GÅ‚os z tamtego Å›wiata (Voice from beyond) (1962)
• Milczenie (Silence) (1963)
• Trzy kroki po ziemi (Three steps on Earth) (1965)
• PiekÅ‚o i niebo (Hell and heaven) (1966)
• Bicz boży (God's whip) (1967)
• Lalka (The Doll) (1969)
• Rejs (Cruise) (1970)
• BolesÅ‚aw ÅšmiaÅ‚y (King Boleslaus the Bold) (1972)
• OpÄ™tanie (Obsession) (1973)
• Ziemia obiecana (Land of Promise) (1974)
• Smuga cienia (The shadow line) (1976)
• Ptaki ptakom (Bords to birds) (1977)
• Barwy ochronne (Camouflage) (1977)
• Spirala (Spiral) (1978)
• Rodzina Polanieckich (TV Series) (1978)
• Le Roi et l'Oiseau (The King and the Mockingbird) (1980)
• Przypadek (Blind chance) (1982)
• Paradigma (1985)
• Salsa (1988)
• GdzieÅ›kolwiek jest, jesliÅ› jest (Wherever you are, if you are) (1988)
• Stan posiadania (Inventory) (1989)
• Å»ycie za życie (about Maximilian Kolbe) (1991)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
• DotkniÄ™cie rÄ™ki (A touch of the hand) (1992)
• Death and the Maiden (1994)
• The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
• Deceptive Charm (1996)
• Brat naszego Boga (Our God's brother) (1997)
• The Truman Show (1998) (parts from Requiem Father Kolbe)
• The Ninth Gate (1999)
• Pan Tadeusz (1999)
• Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000)
• Le Pianiste (2002)
• Zemsta (Revenge) (2002)

External links

• Wojciech Kilar at the Internet Movie Database
• Kilar at the Polish Music Center
• Interview with Wojciech Kilar