Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
Kaczmarek in 2011
Born
Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek

(1953-04-29) 29 April 1953
Konin, Poland
Alma materAdam Mickiewicz University
(M.Jur., 1977)
OccupationComposer
Years active1977 – present
Spouses
Elżbieta Bieluszko
(m. 1977; div. 2014)
    Aleksandra Twardowska
    (m. 2016)
    Websitejan-ap-kaczmarek.com

    Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek (Polish: [jan ˈandʐɛj ˈpavɛw kat͡ʂˈmarɛk]; born 29 April 1953) is a Polish composer. He has written scores for more than 70 feature films and documentaries, including Finding Neverland (2004), for which score he won an Oscar and a National Board of Review Award. Other notable scores were for Hachi: A Dog's Tale, Unfaithful, Evening, The Visitor, and Washington Square.[1]

    Early life and education

    Jan A.P. Kaczmarek was born in 1953 in Konin, Poland. Studying music from an early age, he graduated with a law degree, specializing in legal theory and philosophy of law, from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (1977).[2]

    Career

    In the late 1970s, Kaczmarek started working with Jerzy Grotowski and his innovative Theater Laboratory. He created the Orchestra of the Eighth Day in 1977. He recorded his first album, Music for the End (1982), for the United States (US) company Flying Fish Records.

    In 1989, Kaczmarek moved to Los Angeles, California in the US. In 1992 he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for his incidental music for 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. His music has been released by Sony Classical, Decca, Varèse Sarabande, Verve, Epic, Milan, and Savitor Records. He gives concerts in the United States and Europe. In 2005, Kaczmarek received the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Finding Neverland, directed by Marc Forster, on which he worked with music editor Christopher Kennedy, among others. Kaczmarek also won the National Board of Review award for Best Score of the Year and was nominated for a Golden Globe and the BAFTA's Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music.[3][4]

    In addition to his work in films, Kaczmarek was commissioned to write two symphonic and choral pieces for two important national occasions in Poland: Cantata for Freedom (2005) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement, and Oratorio 1956 (2006) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a bloody uprising against totalitarian government in Poznań, Poland. Both premieres were broadcast live on Polish national television. Other concert works of the composer include Jankiel's Concert, The Open Window and Fanfare A2. On 10 May 2014, the world premiere of Universa – Open Opera, an opera written for the 650th anniversary of the Jagiellonian University, was held in Kraków's Main Square. Jan's last monumental work, Emigra – The Neverending Symphony, was performed in February 2017 in Gdynia, Poland.[5]

    Kaczmarek is a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, European Film Academy and Polish Film Academy.

    In 2007, Kaczmarek began working to set up a film institute in his home country of Poland. Inspired by the Sundance Institute, he intends for the new institute to serve as a European center for the development of new work in film, theater, music and new media. His Instytut Rozbitek (Rozbitek Institute) opened in 2010.[6]

    On 1 July 2015, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding artistic accomplishments and for promoting Polish culture abroad.[7]

    Kaczmarek is the founder and director of the Transatlantyk Festival, held yearly in Łódź, Poland.[8]

    In 2023, he received the Lifetime Achievement Polish Film Award for his contribution to Polish cinema.[9]

    Illness

    In 2023 the daughter of Jan stated that the composer suffers from multiple system atrophy (MSA) from which there is no cure.

    Works

    Film

    Year Title
    1993 White Marriage
    Doppelgänger
    1994 Gospel According to Harry
    Dead Girl
    1995 Total Eclipse
    1996 Bliss
    1997 Washington Square
    1999 Aimée & Jaguar
    The Third Miracle
    2000 Lost Souls
    2001 Quo Vadis
    Edges of the Lord
    2002 Unfaithful
    2004 Finding Neverland
    2006 Who Never Lived
    2007 The Visitor
    Hania
    Evening
    2008 The Karamazovs
    Passchendaele
    2009 Horsemen
    City Island
    Get Low
    Hachiko: A Dog's Story
    2010 Leonie
    2012 The Time Being
    2013 Tajemnica Westerplatte
    2013 Joanna
    2014 Inbetween Worlds
    2014 Dancing Before the Enemy: How a Teenage Boy Fooled the Nazis and Lived
    2016 La Habitación (Tales of Mexico)
    2018 Paul, Apostle of Christ
    2019 Valley of the Gods
    2019 Underage Engineers
    2020 Magnezja

    Television

    Year Title
    1993 Night Owl
    Empty Cradle
    2001 Shot in the Heart
    2002 A Soldier's Girl
    2006 A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story
    2007 War and Peace
    2008 Pinocchio
    2009 The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler

    Awards and nominations

    Year Awards Category Film Result
    2004 National Board of Review Awards Outstanding Film Music Composition Finding Neverland Won
    2005 Academy Awards Best Original Score Won
    British Academy Film Awards Best Original Music Nominated
    Golden Globe Awards Best Original Score Nominated
    2009 Czech Lion Awards Best Music The Karamazovs Nominated

    See also

    References

    1. "Jan A.P. Kaczmarek". Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    2. "Zygmunt Ziembiński stał się legendą za życia. Jego imieniem nazwą salę w Collegium Iuridicum Novum". 18 May 2013.
    3. "Jan A.P. Kaczmarek". Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    4. "Jan A. P. Kaczmarek – film composer". Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    5. "Jan A.P. Kaczmarek". Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    6. "Rozbitek"+rozpoczął+działaność-23848 "Instytut "Rozbitek" rozpoczął działaność". Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    7. "Odznaczenia dla twórców i mecenasów kultury". Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    8. "Nowy multimedialny festiwal Transatlantyk". Retrieved 7 September 2019.
    9. "Orły 2023: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek z nagrodą za osiągnięcia życia". interia.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 5 March 2023.
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