British composer wins prestigious Polish award

In its verdict, the award jury cited Nyman’s “ability to create musical metaphors, helping the spectator to read between the lines.”

Nyman will receive the award during the opening of the Film Music Festival in the southern Polish city of Kraków in late May. He will be the soloist in a performance of his suite from Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning film The Piano.

Previous recipients of the Kilar Award were Elliot Goldenthal (2015), Alexandre Desplat (2016) and Howard Shore (2017), all household names in film music.

Wojciech Kilar (1932-2013) was one of the founders of the Polish school of avant-garde music in the early 1960s.

In the 1970s he began to use a simplified musical idiom, turning to tradition and looking for inspiration in folk music and religion. In many works he attempted to revive a national style in Polish music.

The folk music of the Tatras and the Tatra foothills inspired Kilar in works such as Kościelec 1909, Grey Mist, Orawa and, first and foremost, Krzesany, his most popular orchestral piece performed with much success all over the world.

Kilar wrote soundtracks for more than 150 films. He collaborated with many top Polish directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Kazimierz Kutz. He also worked with prominent foreign directors, such as Campion (The Portrait of a Lady), Francis F. Coppola (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and Roman Polanski (Death and the Maiden, The Pianist). (mk/gs)