CINEFILER

Zbigniew Preisner

Born
May 20, 1955
Zbigniew Preisner (born 20 May 1955) is a Polish film score composer, best known for his work with film director Krzysztof Kieślowski. Preisner is best known for the music composed for the films directed by fellow Pole Krzysztof Kieślowski. His Song for the Unification of Europe, based on the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 13, is attributed to a character in Kieślowski's Three Colors: Blue and plays a dominating role in the story. His music for Three Colors: Red includes a setting of Polish and French versions of a poem by Wisława Szymborska, a Polish Nobel Prize-winning poet. After working with Kieślowski on Three Colors: Blue, Preisner was hired by the producer Francis Ford Coppola to write the score for The Secret Garden, directed by Polish director Agnieszka Holland. Although Preisner is most closely associated with Kieślowski, he has collaborated with several other directors, winning a César in 1996 for his work on Jean Becker's Élisa. He has won a number of other awards, including another César in 1994 for Three Colors: Red, and the Silver Bear from the 47th Berlin International Film Festival 1997 for The Island on Bird Street. He was nominated for Golden Globe awards for his scores for Three Colors: Blue (1993) and At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991). In 1998, Requiem for My Friend, Preisner's first large scale work not written for film, premiered. It was originally intended as a narrative work to be written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and directed by Kieślowski, but it became a memorial to Kieślowski after the director's death. The Lacrimosa from this Requiem appears in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. The Dies Irae from this Requiem appears in the film La Grande Bellezza, directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Preisner composed the theme music for the People's Century, a monumental twenty-six part documentary made jointly in 1994 by the BBC television network in United Kingdom and the PBS television network in the United States. He has also worked with director Thomas Vinterberg on the 2003 film It's All About Love. He provided orchestration for David Gilmour's 2006 album On An Island as well as additional orchestrations for the show at Gdańsk shipyards at which he also conducted the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, this was documented on the album Live in Gdańsk (2008). Silence, Night and Dreams is Zbigniew Preisner's new recording project, a large-scale work for orchestra, choir and soloists, based on texts from the Book of Job. The premier recording, was released in 2007 with the lead singer of Madredeus, Teresa Salgueiro and boy soprano Thomas Cully from Libera.
Known For
Damage
(1992)
Original Music Composer
Three Colors: Red
(1994)
Original Music Composer
The Secret Garden
(1993)
Original Music Composer
Three Colors: White
(1994)
Original Music Composer
Three Colors: Blue
(1993)
Original Music Composer
The Tree of Life
(2011)
Songs
When a Man Loves a Woman
(1994)
Original Music Composer
Europa Europa
(1990)
Original Music Composer
The Double Life of Véronique
(1991)
Original Music Composer
Between Strangers
(2002)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue IV
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue III
(1989)
Original Music Composer
No End
(1985)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue IX
(1989)
Original Music Composer
The Queen of Spain
(2016)
Original Music Composer
A Secret
(2007)
Music
Full Filmography
Sound
The Weather Forecast
(1983)
Music
Psychoterapia
(1983)
Music
No End
(1985)
Original Music Composer
Kolysanka
(1986)
Music
Przez dotyk
(1986)
Music
Will There Be a War
(1986)
Music
I Like Bats
(1986)
Original Music Composer
Escape
(1987)
Music
A Short Film About Killing
(1988)
Original Music Composer
A Short Film About Love
(1988)
Music
I Love Cinema
(1988)
Original Music Composer
To Kill a Priest
(1988)
Songs
Decalogue IX
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue VIII
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue VII
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue VI
(1989)
Original Music Composer and Conductor
Decalogue V
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue X
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue IV
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue III
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue II
(1989)
Original Music Composer
Decalogue I
(1989)
Music
The Last Schoolbell
(1989)
Music
Europa Europa
(1990)
Original Music Composer
The Last Boat
(1990)
Music
City Life
(1990)
Music
The Double Life of Véronique
(1991)
Original Music Composer
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
(1991)
Original Music Composer
Kieslowski: Dialogue
(1991)
Music
Eminent Domain
(1991)
Music
Damage
(1992)
Original Music Composer
Olivier, Olivier
(1992)
Music
Dismissed From Life
(1992)
Music
Three Colors: Blue
(1993)
Original Music Composer
The Secret Garden
(1993)
Original Music Composer
On the Edge of the Horizon
(1993)
Music
Three Colors: White
(1994)
Original Music Composer
Three Colors: Red
(1994)
Original Music Composer
When a Man Loves a Woman
(1994)
Original Music Composer
Desire in Motion
(1994)
Music
Feast of July
(1995)
Original Music Composer
Elisa
(1995)
Music
The Island on Bird Street
(1997)
Original Music Composer
FairyTale: A True Story
(1997)
Music
Foolish Heart
(1998)
Original Music Composer
Dreaming of Joseph Lees
(1999)
Original Music Composer
The Last September
(2000)
Original Music Composer
Aberdeen
(2000)
Original Music Composer
Weiser
(2001)
Music
Between Strangers
(2002)
Original Music Composer
It's All About Love
(2003)
Original Music Composer
Strange Gardens
(2003)
Original Music Composer
The Beautiful Country
(2004)
Original Music Composer
Harry's Daughters
(2005)
Music
A Secret
(2007)
Music
A Woman in Berlin
(2008)
Original Music Composer
The Tree of Life
(2011)
Songs
Aglaya
(2012)
Music
The History of Eternity
(2014)
Original Music Composer
My Hindu Friend
(2015)
Original Music Composer
The Queen of Spain
(2016)
Original Music Composer
Angelica
(2017)
Original Music Composer
Valley of Shadows
(2017)
Music
Lies We Tell
(2018)
Music
Mother Didn't Know
(2020)
Music
Memories of My Father
(2020)
Original Music Composer
Dear Child
(2020)
Music
Man of God
(2021)
Original Music Composer
Aprilis
(2023)
Music
Acting
Data provided by TMDB