
Zbigniew Preisner
Personal Info
Known for
Sound
Gender
Male
Birthday
1955-05-20 (69 years old)
Place of Birth
Bielsko-Biala, Slaskie, Poland
Zbigniew Preisner
Biography
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
Acting
(2017)
(2016)
(2005)
Crew
(2024)
Stimulants & Empathogens
Assistant Property Master
(2024)
Haunted Heart
Original Music Composer
(2024)
Europa Centrale
Original Music Composer
(2023)
Aprilis
Music
(2021)
Man of God
Original Music Composer
(2020)
Mother Didn't Know
Music
(2020)
Memories of My Father
Original Music Composer
(2020)
Dear Child
Music
(2018)
Lies We Tell
Music, Original Music Composer
(2017)
Angelica
Original Music Composer
(2017)
Valley of Shadows
Music
(2016)
The Queen of Spain
Original Music Composer
(2016)
My Hindu Friend
Original Music Composer
(2014)
The History of Eternity
Original Music Composer
(2012)
Aglaya
Original Music Composer
(2011)
The Tree of Life
Songs
(2008)
A Woman in Berlin
Original Music Composer
(2007)
A Secret
Music
(2005)
Harry's Daughters
Music
(2004)
The Beautiful Country
Original Music Composer
(2003)
It's All About Love
Original Music Composer
(2003)
Strange Gardens
Original Music Composer
(2002)
Between Strangers
Original Music Composer
(2001)
Weiser
Music
(2000)
Aberdeen
Original Music Composer
(2000)
The Last September
Original Music Composer
(1999)
Dreaming of Joseph Lees
Original Music Composer
(1998)
Foolish Heart
Original Music Composer
(1997)
The Island on Bird Street
Original Music Composer
(1997)
FairyTale: A True Story
Original Music Composer
(1995)
Feast of July
Original Music Composer
(1995)
Elisa
Original Music Composer
(1994)
Three Colors: White
Original Music Composer
(1994)
Three Colors: Red
Original Music Composer
(1994)
When a Man Loves a Woman
Original Music Composer
(1994)
Desire in Motion
Original Music Composer
(1993)
Three Colors: Blue
Original Music Composer
(1993)
The Secret Garden
Original Music Composer
(1993)
(1992)
Damage
Original Music Composer
(1992)
Olivier, Olivier
Music
(1992)
Dismissed From Life
Music
(1991)
The Double Life of Véronique
Original Music Composer
(1991)
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Original Music Composer
(1991)
Kieslowski: Dialogue
Music
(1991)
Eminent Domain
Music
(1990)
Europa Europa
Original Music Composer
(1990)
The Last Boat
Music
(1990)
City Life
Music
(1989)
Decalogue IX
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue VIII
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue VII
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue VI
Original Music Composer, Conductor
(1989)
Decalogue V
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue X
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue IV
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue III
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue II
Original Music Composer
(1989)
Decalogue I
Music
(1989)
The Last Schoolbell
Music
(1988)
A Short Film About Killing
Original Music Composer
(1988)
I Love Cinema
Original Music Composer
(1988)
To Kill a Priest
Songs
(1988)
A Short Film About Love
Original Music Composer
(1987)
Escape
Music
(1986)
I Like Bats
Original Music Composer
(1986)
Will There Be a War
Music
(1986)
Kolysanka
Music
(1986)
Przez dotyk
Music
(1985)
No End
Original Music Composer
(1983)
Psychoterapia
Music
(1983)
The Weather Forecast
Music