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Zbigniew Preisner
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 scriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz. His scores for Kieslowski's films No end, 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 feature films including Hector Babenco's At Play In The Fields Of The Lord, Foolish heart, My Hindu Friend, Louis Malle's Damage, Luis Mandoki's When A Man Loves A Woman, Agnieszka Holland's Europa Europa, Olivier Olivier, The Secret Garden, Charles Sturridge's Fairytale: A True Story, Thomas Vinterberg's It's All About Love, Jean Becker's Eliza, Effroyables jardins, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen The Island on Bird Street, Claude Miller's Un Secret, Max Färberböck's Anonyma, Kriszta Deak's Aglaja. Camilo Cavalcante's The History of Eternity, Mitchell Lichtenstein's Angelica, Fernando Trueba's Queen of Spain, Forgotten we'll be, Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen's Valley of Shadows, Feng Mei's Love song 1980.
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. Originally 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 album has been rereleased on CD and vinyl by Sony Poland.
Preisner's second 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 2007. The world premiere of the work took place on 4th September 2007 in the Herodion Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens.
Other CD releases include 10 Easy Pieces for Piano, Moje Koledy, Preisner's Voices and Danse Macabre, W poszukiwaniu dróg Stare i nowe kolędy, 2016 Dokąd?, Twilight. In 2005, Preisner was commissioned by David Gilmour to arrange nine of songs on his album On An Island for a 40-piece string orchestra. The album was released worldwide in 2006 and Preisner conducted the string section of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra in these arrangements at the concert on Gilmour's 2006 tour, at the shipyards in Gdansk, Poland. A live recording and film were made of the event and versions of these have been released in several formats and packages under the title Live In Gdansk. Gilmour and Preisner met again on the occasion of the work on Gilmour's album Rattle That Lock, released in 2015. Zbigniew Preisner conducted the NFM Orchestra during Gilmour's concert in Wroclaw in June 2016.
A new stage in Preisner's work began in 2013. At that time Preisner released the album Diaries of Hope which began his close collaboration with Lisa Gerrard. They performed together in Wroclaw, London, Istanbul and Shanghai. They also met several times in the studio, while recoding music for the films Lies We Tell and Valley of Shadows or for the album Melodies of my youth that was released worldwide in 2019, as well as on stage during the concerts Here and Now (2014), and 2016 Dokad? and Preisner's Music concerts including the anniversary concert of Zbigniew Preisner that took place on October 5th 2019 in Tauron Arena, Krakow.
Preisner records and mixes all his film scores and albums at his own studio in Poland. His recent works as producer of music include Earthshine, the second album by the post-rock band Tides From Nebula and two albums by the jazz pianist Leszek Mozdzer, Time and Between Us And The Light.
Among many awards and citations Preisner received the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival in 1997, two Césars 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. In October 2008 he was honoured by the International Eurasia Film Festival with an award for his contribution to Cinema and the Arts. In 2016 his music for film The History of Eternity was awarded the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize. In February 2017 he received the Special Award from the Polish Society of Cinematographers for his gift for composing film music that creates deeper understanding and additional dimensions for each story. In September 2018 during 34th Haifa International Film Festival he received Lifetime achievement award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to Music for Films.
Preisner also received the Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for outstanding achievements in the presentation of Polish Culture abroad, the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland from the President of Poland, and the Gold Medal Gloria Artis from the Polish Minister of Culture. Preisner is a member of the French Film Academy.
Citations & Awards
2022: IZMIR INTERNATIONAL FILM AND MUSIC FESTIVAL
Honorary award
2021: ORZEŁ STULECIA "RZECZPOSPOLITEJ"
from Rzeczpospolita
2020: FIMUCITE TENERIFE INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC FESTIVAL
Award for the best music for the documentary film Dear Child
2018: HAIFA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Lifetime achievement award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to Music for Films
2017: INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF WALES
Award for the best music for the film Lies We Tell
2017: Special Award
from the Polish Society of Cinematographers
2016: CINEMA BRAZIL GRAND PRIZE
for best original music The History of Eternity
2013: GOLD MEDAL GLORIA ARTIS
from the Polish Minister of Culture.
2012: OFFICERS CROSS OF THE ORDER OF THE REBIRTH OF POLAND
from the President of Poland.
2008: INTERNATIONAL EURASIA FILM FESTIVAL AWARD
for his contribution to Cinema and the Arts.
1996: THE SILVER BEAR, BERLIN
for Island on Bird Street
1996: THE ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY CRAFT & DESIGN AWARD FOR ORIGINAL MUSIC
for the title music of People's Century
1996: FRYDERYK '95
Polish Record Industry Award
1996: CÉSAR AWARD OF THE FRENCH FILM ACADEMY
citation for Elisa
for Three Colours Red
1994: THE MAYOR OF KRAKOW'S MEDALl
for lifetime achievements
1993: GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD
nomination for Three Colours Blue
1993: THE LOS ANGELES CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARD
the year's most outstanding composer of film music, third citation: Three Colours Blue, Olivier Olivier and The Secret Garden
1992: AWARD OF THE POLISH MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
for outstanding achievements in the presentation of Polish culture abroad
nomination for Dekalog and The Double Life Of Veronique
nomination for At Play In The Fields Of The Lord
the year's most outstanding composer of film music, second citation: Damage
the year's most outstanding composer of film music, first citation: The Double Life Of Veronique, Europa Europa, At Play In The Fields Of The Lord
Film scores 1984 - 2020
2021 MAN OF GOD
Yelena Popovic
2020 LOVE SONG 1980
Mei Feng
2020 DEAR CHILD
Luca Ammendola
2020 MOTHER DIDN'T KNOW
Anita Killi
2020 FORGOTTEN WE'LL BE
Fernando Trueba
2017 VALLEY OF SHADOWS
Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen
2017 LIES WE TELL
Mitu Misra
2016 QUEEN OF SPAIN
2016 MY HINDU FRIEND
Hector Babenco
2015 LOST AND LOVE
Sanyuan Peng
2015 LADY OF THE DYNASTY
Shiqing
2015 ANGELICA
Mitchell Lichtenstein
2014 A HISTORIA DA ETERNIDADE (THE HISTORY OF ETERNITY)
Camilo Cavalcante
2012 AGLAJA
Krisztina Deak
2008 ANONYMA
Max Farberbock
2007 MENECHEM AND FRED
Ofra Tevet & Ronit Kertsner
2007 SECRET
2006 SPORTSMAN OF THE CENTURY
Mischa Alexander
2005 THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY
Hans Petter Moland
2004 IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE
Thomas Vinterberg
2003 EFFROYABLES JARDINS
Jean Becker
2003 SUPERTEX
Jan Schutte
2001 WEISER
Wojciech Marczewski
2001 BETWEEN STRANGERS
Edoardo Ponti
2000 ABERDEEN
2000 THE LAST SEPTEMBER
Deborah Warner
1999 DREAMING OF JOSEPH LEES
Eric Styles
1998 FOOLISH HEART
1997 FAIRYTALE: A TRUE STORY
Charles Sturridge
1996 THE ISLAND ON BIRD STREET
Soren Kragh-Jacobsen
1995 ELISA
1995 FEAST OF JULY
Christopher Menaul
1994 WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN
Luis Mandoki
1994 THREE COLOURS WHITE
1994 THREE COLOURS RED
1994 MOUVEMENTS DU DESIR
Lea Pool
1994 RADETZKY MARCH
Axel Corti
1994 QUARTET IN 4 MOVEMENTS
Lucia Rikaki
1993 THE SECRET GARDEN
1993 THREE COLOURS BLUE
1992 OLIVIER OLIVIER
1992 LE FIL DE L'HORIZON
Fernando Lopez
1992 DAMAGE
1991 LA DOUBLE VIE DE VERONIQUE
1991 DEKALOG
1991 AT PLAY IN THE FIELDS OF THE LORD
1990 EUROPA EUROPA
1990 EMINENT DOMAIN
John Irvin
1988 A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE
1988 A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING
1984 NO END
1983 THE WEATHER FORECAST
Antoni Krauze
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