Zbigniew Preisner
About
Zbigniew Preisner (b. 1955) is Poland's leading film music composer and is considered to be one of the most outstanding film composers of his generation. For many years Preisner enjoyed a close collaboration with the director Krzysztof Kieslowski and his script-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz. His scores for Kieslowski's films – Dekalog, The Double Life Of Veronique, Three Colours Blue, Three Colours White and Three Colours Red - have brought him international acclaim.
Preisner has scored many international feature films including Hector Babenco's At Play In The Fields Of The Lord, Louis Malle's Damage, Luis Mandoki's When A Man Loves A Woman, Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden and Charles Sturridge's Fairytale: A True Story.
Other film scores include Deborah Warner's The Last September, Hans-Petter Moland's Aberdeen and The Beautiful Country, Edoardo Ponti's Between Strangers, Thomas Vinterberg's It's All About Love, Jean Becker's Effroyables Jardins, Jan Schütte's Supertex, and Mischa Alexander's Sportsman of the Century. His most recent score is for Claude Miller's Un Secret.
Requiem for My Friend, Preisner's first large-scale work specially written for recording and live performance, is dedicated to the memory of Krzysztof Kieslowski. Released on Erato Disques (Warner Classics) in October 1998 the work received its world premiere at the Teatr Wielki, Warsaw, on the 1st October 1998. The recording features the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Varsov Chamber Choir and the Polish soprano Elzbieta Towarnicka, whose singing is a trademark of Preisner's film scores.
Preisner's next large-scale work is Silence, Night and Dreams, for orchestra, choir and soloists, based on texts from the Book of Job. The recording features the voice of Teresa Salgueiro (from Madredeus) and was released worldwide on EMI Classics in the autumn of 2007.
In 1994 Preisner was commissioned to write the title music for People's Century, BBC TV's 26-part series documenting the history of the twentieth century, co-produced by WGBH Boston. The series was first broadcast on BBC 1 and 2 in 1995-96, and subsequently shown on PBS in the USA. It has now been seen by viewers in over 30 countries.
Among many awards and citations Preisner received the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival in 1997, two Cesars from the French Film Academy – one in 1996 for Jean Becker's Elisa, and one in 1995 for Three Colours Red - and three consecutive citations as the year's most outstanding composer of film music in The Los Angeles Critics Association Awards of 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Preisner is a member of the French Film Academy and in 1992 he received the Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for outstanding achievements in the presentation of Polish Culture abroad.
Preisner currently lives in Poland and Switzerland.
Preisner has scored many international feature films including Hector Babenco's At Play In The Fields Of The Lord, Louis Malle's Damage, Luis Mandoki's When A Man Loves A Woman, Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden and Charles Sturridge's Fairytale: A True Story.
Other film scores include Deborah Warner's The Last September, Hans-Petter Moland's Aberdeen and The Beautiful Country, Edoardo Ponti's Between Strangers, Thomas Vinterberg's It's All About Love, Jean Becker's Effroyables Jardins, Jan Schütte's Supertex, and Mischa Alexander's Sportsman of the Century. His most recent score is for Claude Miller's Un Secret.
Requiem for My Friend, Preisner's first large-scale work specially written for recording and live performance, is dedicated to the memory of Krzysztof Kieslowski. Released on Erato Disques (Warner Classics) in October 1998 the work received its world premiere at the Teatr Wielki, Warsaw, on the 1st October 1998. The recording features the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Varsov Chamber Choir and the Polish soprano Elzbieta Towarnicka, whose singing is a trademark of Preisner's film scores.
Preisner's next large-scale work is Silence, Night and Dreams, for orchestra, choir and soloists, based on texts from the Book of Job. The recording features the voice of Teresa Salgueiro (from Madredeus) and was released worldwide on EMI Classics in the autumn of 2007.
In 1994 Preisner was commissioned to write the title music for People's Century, BBC TV's 26-part series documenting the history of the twentieth century, co-produced by WGBH Boston. The series was first broadcast on BBC 1 and 2 in 1995-96, and subsequently shown on PBS in the USA. It has now been seen by viewers in over 30 countries.
Among many awards and citations Preisner received the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival in 1997, two Cesars from the French Film Academy – one in 1996 for Jean Becker's Elisa, and one in 1995 for Three Colours Red - and three consecutive citations as the year's most outstanding composer of film music in The Los Angeles Critics Association Awards of 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Preisner is a member of the French Film Academy and in 1992 he received the Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for outstanding achievements in the presentation of Polish Culture abroad.
Preisner currently lives in Poland and Switzerland.
