Wojciech Kilar

Award-winning Polish composer Wojciech Kilar was born in Lwów on 17 July 1932. He studied in Katowice with Władysława Markiewiczówna, in Kraków with Bolesław Woytowicz and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. In the 1960s he was a member of the Polish avant garde movement, but later wrote in a more simplified style. He was chairman of the Katowice chapter of the Polish Composers Association and sat on the repertoire committee of the Warsaw Autumn International Contemporary Music Festival. His output includes the Baltic Canticles, the Missa pro pace and the September Symphony.

In addition to his serious music, Kilar wrote film scores, working with Francis Ford Coppola and Roman Polanski.

He lived in Katowice for most of his life, and died there on 29 December 2013, aged eighty-one.