Prominent Polish composer Wojciech Kilar has received the Per Artem ad Deum Medal from the Pontifical Council for Culture.

The presentation ceremony will be held on 8 June during the Sacroexpo Fair in Kielce, southern Poland and will be attended by Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, Head of the Council.

Two of Kilar’s highly acclaimed compositions – Krzesany and Koscielec 1909 will be performed at a gala concert by the Kielce Symphony Orchestra.

Seventy seven year-old Wojciech Kilar said he was deeply moved by the news from the Vatican.

Kilars was one of the founders of the Polish school of avant-garde music in the early 1960s. In the 1970s he began to use a simplified musical idiom, turning to tradition and looking for inspiration in folk music and religion. In many works he attempted to revive a national style in Polish music. The folk music of the Tatras and the Tatra foothills inspired him in such compositions as Kościelec 1909, Grey Mist,  Orawa and, first and foremost, Krzesany, his most popular orchestral piece, performed with much success all over the world.

Kilar has also achieved worldwide reputation for his soundtracks to over 150 films. He has collaborated with many prominent Polish (Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi, Roman Polanski) and foreign directors (Francis F.Coppola,  Jane Campion). (mk)