Zbigniew Preisner

Zbigniew Preisner is a Film Score Composer. He was born with the name Zbigniew Antoni Kowalski. On the 20th of May in the year 1955, he was born to a Polish family. He is mainly known for his phenomenal work in collaboration with the Film Director, Krzysztof Kieslowski. He is a native of Bielsko-Biala. He completed his studies in History and Philosophy in the city of Krakow. He didn’t follow the orthodox routine of learning and hence, never took any music lessons. He is a self-trained musician and taught himself all the skills by merely listening to records. He also used to transcribe parts from various records to understand their making.

Due to this, he has a unique style of composing. His compositional format represents a distinctive and new form of tonal neo-Romanticism. Some of his acknowledged references are a blend of inspirations from Jean Sibelius and Paganini. Zbigniew Preisner is popular for the music that he has given in the films of his contemporary Polish Director Kieslowski. Zbigniew’s composition for the album Unification of Europe which is based on the Greek text from the 1 Corinthians 13 is symbolized for a character in Kieslowski’s Three Colors: Blue.

The song plays a dominating role in the plot. In another movie by the same director, Preisner’s composition for Three Colors: Red consists a blend of the French and Polish versions of a poem by Polish Nobel Prize-winning poet named Wislawa Szymborska. After seeing Zbigniew Preisner’s work in Three Colors: Blue, he was hired for the Secret Garden which was produced by Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola is a director, screenwriter, >> Read More... . Although Zbigniew is often associated with Kieslowski, he has also worked with numerous other popular directors like Agnieszka Holland. Zbigniew Preisner won a Cesar Award in the year 1996 for his work on Elisa by Jean Becker.

He has won a Cesar in the year 1994 for his composition in the Three Colors: Red. He has been awarded the esteemed Silver Bear in the 47th version of the Berlin International Film Festival which was held in the year 1997. He won this recognition for his work on The Island on Bird Street. He has also been nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in 1993’s Three Colors: Blue and for 1991’s At Pay in the Field of Lord. One of the most popular works of Preisner is Van den Budenmayer which is a fictitious Dutch composer of the 18th century created by him for attribution to various screenplays. It has been used in numerous Polish flicks.