The event, dubbed the Kilar Music Marathon, is held on the eve of the 90th anniversary of the birth of one of Poland’s most renowned composers. The day’s programme also includes a tour of Kilar’s former residence, which is soon to be turned into a music education centre, and a screening of Francis Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, one of over 150 films to which Kilar wrote soundtracks.
Between avant-garde and tradition
Born in Lviv (in today’s Ukraine) in 1932, Kilar 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 inspired him in such works as Kościelec 1909, Grey Mist, Orawa and, first and foremost, Krzesany, his most popular orchestral piece, which was described by the conductor Jan Krenz as “a breath of fresh air let into the musty room of contemporary Polish music”.
Film scores
As a composer of film music, Kilar collaborated with many prominent Polish directors, including Roman Polański (Death and the Maiden, The Pianist), Andrzej Wajda (The Revenge, Pan Tadeusz, The Promised Land), and Krzysztof Zanussi (Quarterly Balance, In Full Gallop), as well as several famous foreign filmmakers, such as Jane Campion (The Portrait of a Lady) and Thomas Toelle (Der König der letzten Tage).
Kilar died on December 29, 2013 in the Silesian city of Katowice and is buried at a local cemetery.
(mk/pm)
Source: PAP, dziennik.pl