Wojciech Kilar

Wojciech Kilar (Polish: [ˈvɔjt͡ɕex ˈkilar]; 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), a film 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 and was also nominated 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 for *The Pianist* at France's 28th César Awards Ceremony, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination. The *The Pianist* (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.

The vast majority of Wojciech Kilar's work remains undiscovered by the music public at large, despite having written music for well over 100 films, including: *Bram Stoker's Dracula*, *Death and the Maiden*, *The Portrait of a Lady*, *The Ninth Gate*, *Pan Tadeusz*, *The Pianist*, *Zemsta*, and *We Own the Night*.