Zbigniew Preisner
About
Biography
Biography
Gifted composer who has created scores for over 50 film, theater and TV productions in his native Poland, and who later branched out into international work. To some extent this expansion resulted from Preisner's collaborations with two of his compatriots, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Agnieszka Holland, filmmakers whose work received widespread international recognition in the 1980s and 90s.
Preisner became attracted to music when he discovered the cabaret scene in Krakow while a university student. In 1977 he began composing music for the famed Krakow cabaret Piwnica Pod Barabnami (The Cellar Under the Ram), and two years later he began working in Polish film and TV. His collaboration with Kieslowski began in 1984 with "Bez Konca/No End" (1984). He created the scores for all ten parts of Kieslowski's challenging, acclaimed "Decalogue" (1988) series of films based on the ten commandments, including the spare use of a limited range of notes for the powerful "Dekalog 5/A Short Film About Killing." His work with Holland, meanwhile, began with her political drama, "To Kill a Priest" (1988), and continued through such international successes as "Europa, Europa" (1990), "Olivier, Olivier" (1992), and the American remake of the classic children's story "The Secret Garden" (1993).
The winner of multiple awards in the 90s from the Los Angeles Film Critics, Preisner has shown particular aptitude for embellishing the psychological states of his characters with his diverse chords, and has been at home amid the strong, complex passions surging through Kieslowski's tricolor trilogy ("Red," "White" and "Blue" 1993-94) and Hollywood efforts like "When a Man Loves a Woman" (1994).
Filmography
Music (Feature Film)
Life Events
1977
Interest in music began composing music for the famed Polish cabaret Piwnica Pod Barabnami/The Cellar Under the Ram
1979
Began composing for films and TV
1983
First collaboration with director Krzysztof Kieslowski, "Bez Konca/No End"
1988
First collaboration with director Agnieszka Holland, "To Kill a Priest"
1990
First non-Polish feature credit, "Europa, Europa", directed by Holland
1991
First US credit, "At Play in the Fields of the Lord"; received a Golden Globe nomination
