Wojciech Kilar Award to honour film music composers

Wojciech Kilar. Photo: wikipedia/Lzur

Plans for the award were revealed on Sunday during the closing night of the 7th Film Music Festival in Krakow.

In a statement released by the two mayors, it was specified that the annual prize “will be granted to outstanding and original film music composers who remain faithful to the traditional art of composition.”

Heavyweights including composer Krzysztof Penderecki and veteran film-makers Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski have agreed to be members of the Kilar Award Honorary Committee.

According to Krakow mayor Jacek Majchrowski and his Katowice counterpart Piotr Uszok, the prize will place an emphasis on composers who “similarly to Wojciech Kilar” draw inspiration from “folk tunes and national musical traditions... believing that national identity is more important that post-modernist attempts at globalizing music.”

Wojciech Kilar, who was born in 1932, was initially a pioneer of the avant-garde, but he later devoted himself to more traditional compositions through film music.

Among his most celebrated compositions are a polonaise for Andrzej Wajda's Pan Tadeusz, based on national bard Adam Mickiewicz's 19th century classic of the same name, as well as the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Besides honouring the composer, the award is intended to consolidate the image of Krakow and Katowice “within the international film and music recording industry.”

The first winner will be announced in 2015, and the award will consist of jointly funded recording session with the orchestra and choir from Katowice or Krakow, with recording and postproduction carried out at Krakow's Alvernia Studios. (nh)

Source: PAP