Wojciech Kilar (17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and… Read Full Bio ↴Wojciech Kilar (17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013) was a Polish classical and film music composer. His film scores have won many honors including the best score award for the music to Ziemia obiecana (The Promised Land) in 1975, followed by the Prix Louis Delluc in 1980 for the music to Le Roi et l'Oiseau / The King and the Mockingbird, and an award at the Cork International Film Festival for the music to From A Far Country (1981) about the life of Pope John Paul II.
One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1993 which received the ASCAP Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Producers in Los Angeles, nominated also for the Saturn Award for Best Music in a science fiction, fantasy, or horror film in San Francisco in 1993. In 2003, he won the César Award for Best Film Music written for The Pianist, at France's 28th César Awards Ceremony in 2003, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination. The film's soundtrack featured his "Moving to the Ghetto Oct. 31, 1940" with the other 10 tracks being works by Frédéric Chopin. The music in the movie includes pieces by Beethoven and Bach.
Wojciech Kilar was born on 17 July 1932 in Lwów (then Poland; since 1945 Lviv in UkrSSR, now Ukraine). His father was a gynecologist and his mother was a theater actress. Kilar spent most of his life from 1948 in the city of Katowice in Southern Poland, married (from April 1966 to November 2007) to Barbara Pomianowska, a pianist. Kilar was 22 years old when he met 18-year-old Barbara, his future wife.
Later in life, Kilar composed symphonic music, chamber works and works for solo instruments. January 2001 saw the world premiere of his Missa pro pace (composed for a full symphony orchestra, mixed choir and a quartet of soloists) at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. The work was written to commemorate the Warsaw Philharmonic's centennial. In December 2001, it was performed again in the Paul VI Audience Hall in the presence of Pope John Paul II. His 1984 composition Angelus was used in the motion picture City of Angels; Orawa, from 1988, found its use in the Santa Clara Vanguard's 2003 production, "Pathways".
For most of his life, Kilar's output was dominated by music for film with a small but steady stream of concert works. Post 2000, he turned to "music of a singular authorship". Since his 2003 September Symphony, (Symphony No.3), a four-movement full scale symphony written for the composer's friend Antoni Wit, Kilar returned to absolute music. September Symphony was the first symphony by the composer since 1955's Symphony for Strings (along with another student symphony) and Kilar considered it his first mature symphony (composed at age 71).
From 2003, Kilar had been steadily producing large scale concert works. His Lament (2003) for unaccompanied mixed choir, his Symphony No.4 Sinfonia de Motu (Symphony of Motion) from 2005 written for large orchestra, choir and soloists, his Magnificat Mass from 2006, Symphony No.5 Advent Symphony from 2007 and another large mass, Te Deum premiered in November 2008. Kilar was quoted as saying that he believed he had discovered the philosopher's stone, and that "there was nothing more beautiful than the solitary sound or concord that lasted eternally, that this was the deepest wisdom, nothing like our tricks with sonata allegros, fugues, and harmonics." Kilar's works have been performed by several major international orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1993 which received the ASCAP Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Producers in Los Angeles, nominated also for the Saturn Award for Best Music in a science fiction, fantasy, or horror film in San Francisco in 1993. In 2003, he won the César Award for Best Film Music written for The Pianist, at France's 28th César Awards Ceremony in 2003, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination. The film's soundtrack featured his "Moving to the Ghetto Oct. 31, 1940" with the other 10 tracks being works by Frédéric Chopin. The music in the movie includes pieces by Beethoven and Bach.
Wojciech Kilar was born on 17 July 1932 in Lwów (then Poland; since 1945 Lviv in UkrSSR, now Ukraine). His father was a gynecologist and his mother was a theater actress. Kilar spent most of his life from 1948 in the city of Katowice in Southern Poland, married (from April 1966 to November 2007) to Barbara Pomianowska, a pianist. Kilar was 22 years old when he met 18-year-old Barbara, his future wife.
Later in life, Kilar composed symphonic music, chamber works and works for solo instruments. January 2001 saw the world premiere of his Missa pro pace (composed for a full symphony orchestra, mixed choir and a quartet of soloists) at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. The work was written to commemorate the Warsaw Philharmonic's centennial. In December 2001, it was performed again in the Paul VI Audience Hall in the presence of Pope John Paul II. His 1984 composition Angelus was used in the motion picture City of Angels; Orawa, from 1988, found its use in the Santa Clara Vanguard's 2003 production, "Pathways".
For most of his life, Kilar's output was dominated by music for film with a small but steady stream of concert works. Post 2000, he turned to "music of a singular authorship". Since his 2003 September Symphony, (Symphony No.3), a four-movement full scale symphony written for the composer's friend Antoni Wit, Kilar returned to absolute music. September Symphony was the first symphony by the composer since 1955's Symphony for Strings (along with another student symphony) and Kilar considered it his first mature symphony (composed at age 71).
From 2003, Kilar had been steadily producing large scale concert works. His Lament (2003) for unaccompanied mixed choir, his Symphony No.4 Sinfonia de Motu (Symphony of Motion) from 2005 written for large orchestra, choir and soloists, his Magnificat Mass from 2006, Symphony No.5 Advent Symphony from 2007 and another large mass, Te Deum premiered in November 2008. Kilar was quoted as saying that he believed he had discovered the philosopher's stone, and that "there was nothing more beautiful than the solitary sound or concord that lasted eternally, that this was the deepest wisdom, nothing like our tricks with sonata allegros, fugues, and harmonics." Kilar's works have been performed by several major international orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
Orawa
Wojciech Kilar Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Orawa' by these artists:
Andrzej Wierzbicki Z mego okna widać chmury Na skalistej grzędzie Przetrę szybę…
Krywań Łorawa łorawa bez łorawe ława Któryndy chodzali któryndy cho…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Wojciech Kilar:
Angelus Zdrowaś Maryjo, łaski pełna, Pan z Tobą, błogosławionaś Ty m…
Love Song For A Vampire Come into these arms again And lay your body down The rhyt…
Soplicowo O te jeziora, co wokół rozlane. Borów i lasów i ciszy…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Kevin McGugan
Brilliant!! And the performance of the Lutoslawski on the bill was terrific as well! More programming like this, please!
Mariko Mariko
Terrific! Spellbinding contemporary music, young conductor, young concert master, and much older audience is totally thrilled. Great musical experience as a whole. 👏👏👏
rdmans2
this piece is a masterpiece of the last decades, I dig the highly rythmic strings and yet serene soundtrack-y vibes. truly remarkable.
Wojciech Kałamarz
bardzo ładne wykonanie. Jasne, radosne, miejscami drapieżne, eleganckie. W. Kilar na pewno się w Niebie cieszy :-).
Pat Horne
I started out listening to this as I worked on a letter ... After a couple minutes and a few sentences I gave up on writing, and gave myself over to watching and listening to this wonderful performance. We are all so very lucky that you bring such musical performances to the "world's stage" of youtube. My heartfelt thanks.
Salvador Perez Lopez
My imagination goes wild every time I hear this work. It takes me on a journey as if I am watching something unfold right in front of my eyes. Kilar was also an active film composer so that probably explains a lot :)
Stephen Jablonsky
Kilar likes to allow musical ideas to percolate for a while before moving on. This piece certainly featured a crescendo of excitement as the music progressed. Much of what he does is combine folk principles in a classical format. The result is always engaging and dramatic. The shout at the end is the perfect final cadence.
daniel winfield
I had the pleasure of playing this work a few years ago, and have been hooked on it since. It is incredibly fun to play and should be performed more often. It's initially scored for Chamber Orchestra but is easily done by a full Symphony string section. That is what I enjoyed most about this performance. The Conductor stayed out of the way in the beginning and other solo sections of the piece allowing the musicians to play chamber music with each other, and it was marvelous and this reading is now my new favorite. I've now officially subscribed to this Orchestras channel. ❤❤❤
Favorite part is near the end where everyone plays 8th note G's then Kilar crunches it with the tone cluster, then G"s, then tone cluster, G's, extended cluster, drive to the finale! 🤣🤣 love it!
Alex King
Something NEW and WONDERFUL for me , thanks Ernie for sending this to me . I will definitely be checking out more of this man Kilar
Matthew Vaughan
Wonderful new (to me) music, thank you to Urbanski and the hr sinfonieorchester for bringing us this performance! Hey!!