Polish pianist and composer Wojciech Kilar, who was Bafta-nominated for his score to Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning film The Pianist, has died aged 81.
He passed away in his hometown Katowice in Southern Poland, following a prolonged illness.
“The power and the message of his music… will stay in my memory forever,” said Jerzy Kornowicz, head of the Association of Polish Composers.
Although he cited his first love as writing symphonies and concertos, he won worldwide attention as a film composer, writing scores for more than 130 films and working with celebrity directors such as Jane Campion (Portrait of a Lady) and Francis Ford Coppola on Dracula. Bram Stoker’s Dracula won him the best score composer award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 1992. He was a powerhouse of a composer and one that enhanced many films with his distinct and original music, but that music also had a life of its own away from the images it was intended to support, he will be sadly missed.
MOVIE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL. (MMI) . 