Born on 17 July 1932 in Lwów, a composer and pianist. Following a short stay in Krosno, Rzeszów and Kraków, he settled down in Katowice. In the years 1946-47 he was a disciple of Kazimierz Mirski in the State Secondary Music School in Rzeszów, where he learned to play the piano; his début was the performance of his own Two Children's Miniatures during the Young Talents Competition held in the school, for which he was awarded the second prize.
In the years 1947-48 he was a pupil in the State Music Secondary School in Kraków in Maria Bilińska-Riegerowa's class (piano) and Artur Malawski’s class (concertina – private classes), and later in the State Secondary Music School in Katowice, in Władysława Markiewiczówna's class (piano). He also had private composition classes with Bolesław Woytowicz (piano and composition) from 1950 to 1955 in the State College of Music in Katowice. In 1955 he graduated from the school with distinction. Also in 1955, he was awarded the second prize for Little Overture during the Symphonic Compositions Competition at the Fifth World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw. This piece – still in the neoclassicist style – was included in the programme of the first Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music held in 1956. In the years 1955-58 he was B. Woytowicz’s assistant. In 1957 he participated in the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music. In the years 1959-60 a scholarship from the French government enabled him to study composition in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. He also performed his own piano compositions. In 1977 Kilar was one of the founding members of the Karol Szymanowski Society in Zakopane, and held the position of its Vice-Chairman for two terms. He was also a member of the Polish Highlanders Association. In 1991 K. Zanussi made a television film about Kilar entitled Wojciech Kilar. In 1999 he was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Opole. In 1999 he became an ordinary member of the Polish Academy of Learning.
He received numerous awards, also for his artistic activity in the social context. In 2012 he was granted the Golden Frederick Award for his lifetime achievements.
The music to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker’s Dracula brought Kilar an ASCAP Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Producers in 1992 in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco – the Best Score Composer award for a 1992 Horror Film. He composed the soundtrack to The Portrait of a Lady directed by Jane Campion, Roman Polański’s films The Ninth Gate, and The Pianist (the César Award 2002 for the best music written for a film). Such contemporary artists as the Motion Trio, Anna Maria Jopek and the Pospieszalscy brothers find a rich source of artistic inspiration in his classical works.
Kilar died on 29 December 2013 in Katowice.
/based on: pwm.com.pl/