One of the most important film music festivals in the world is back and catching up on the pandemic backlog! We will see a screening with live accompaniment (How To Train Your Dragon), hear compositions commissioned for the event and watch acclaimed artists (Jerzy Skolimowski, John Powell, Zygmunt Konieczny), soloists (Joanna Słowińska, Tomasz Organek, Aleksander Dębicz) and choirs, orchestras and conductors. We also hope to see many of you there! The organisers and all the musicians involved with the FMF also wish to express our solidarity with Ukraine at this tragic time.

In recent years, the pandemic made it impossible for us to meet in person, so I am delighted that this year I can invite you to six concerts of the 15th FMF, returning at its usual time in May. The main guest of the festival is John Powell, due to have joined us in 2020. He is best known from the series of animations “How To Train Your Dragon”, as well as “The Bourne Identity” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, says Magdalena Doksa-Tverberg, director of KBF.

The 15th festival opens with the concert Kilar | Glass, held at 7.30pm on 24 May at the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Kraków. The event celebrates the expressive music of Wojciech Kilar who would have been celebrating his 90th birthday this year, as well as showcasing Minimalist compositions by Philip Glass. Kilar achieved global fame with his soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992. And the bloodthirsty count is just one character the composers have in common. In 1999, Glass was commissioned to compose a brand-new soundtrack to Tod Browning’s Dracula from 1931. Glass owes his huge popularity to his openness to all musical styles, reaching vastly erse audiences. He has composed dozens of film scores (receiving three Oscar nominations), 14 symphonies, 13 concertos, 25 operas, nine string quartets, ballet scores and piano pieces. Music by the two maestros is performed by the pianist Aleksander Dębicz, the soprano Joanna Radziszewskiej and the Sinfonietta Cracovia orchestra under the baton of Michael Riesman, music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble.

In previous years, concerts held as part of the cycle Scoring4Polish Directors celebrated some of our greatest directors: Agnieszka Holland, Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polański and Krzysztof Zanussi. The protagonist and special guest of this year’s concert (7.30pm, 25 May) will be Jerzy Skolimowski – director of Essential Killing, The Shout, Four Nights With Anna, 11 Minutes and Moonlighting. We will hear jazz and dark contemporary sounds arranged by Jan Stokłosa. We will also hear one of the director’s close friend Tomasz Organek. The concert at the Krzysztof Penderecki Auditorium at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre will feature an award ceremony for Polish Soundtrack of the Year.The first half of the event resounds with music from recent Polish productions such as Dark, Almost Night and Operation Hyacinth. The concert is reserved for audiences 16 and above.

This year’s FMF is also an opportunity to show our solidarity with Ukraine with the concert Composers4Ukraine, held at 7.30pm on 26 May at the Krzysztof Penderecki Auditorium at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre.The music expresses our respect for the heroism of our eastern neighbours and the huge waves of support from all over the globe.Poland has already welcomed over two million refugees including many musicians from Kyiv, L’viv and Kharkov looking for work.The choir and orchestra performing on 26 May include performers from Ukraine.

I simply cannot imagine existing without the FMF now. We are living through particularly challenging times, so we need celebrations of solidarity and beauty all the more. Our festival has been attracting the finest composers of film music for many years, and it’s a great opportunity for industry meetings. And this year is no different. Some of our guests this year include John Powell and Jerzy Skolimowski. An important element of this year’s programme is the concert “Composers4Ukraine” prepared to express our solidarity with the Ukrainian nation and to provide musicians who have been forced to flee their homes with an opportunity to perform. They will play music composed especially for the occasion or dedicated to the concert by musicians including John Williams, Howard Shore, Lolita Ritmanis, Laura Karpman, Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz, Elliot Goldenthal, Diego Navarro, Trevor Morris, Don Davis, Craig Armstrong, Stephen Warbeck, DirkBrossé, Benjamin Wallfisch and Michael Giacchino, says Robert Piaskowski, artistic director of the FMF. 

The music by Zygmunt Konieczny, an acclaimed Cracovian composer of tunes to literary songs and author of film music, resounds at 7.30pm on 27 May at the Theatre Hall at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre during the concert Słowińska I AUKSO I Konieczny. Konieczny composed music to films, theatre performances and lyrics by acclaimed Polish authors and poets including Stanisław Wyspiański, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Julian Tuwim and Miron Białoszewski. The concert is performed by vocalists Joanna Słowińskia and Karol Śmiałek accompanied by Stanisław Słowiński’s quintet and the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy.

On 7.30pm on 28 May, the Krzysztof Penderecki Auditorium at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre resounds with the concert The Music of John Powell.He has composed music to animations including How To Train Your Dragon, Chicken Run and the Rio series,as well as The Bourne Identity and Solo: A Star Wars Story. And if you don’t know the many anecdotes linked with how he writes his music,you’re in luck: you’ll be able to hear them on the night told by John Powell himself, host the event.The orchestra will be led by the British composer’s friend Gavin Greenaway, favourite of FMF audiences.

The festival culminates at 6pm on 29 May at the Krzysztof Penderecki Auditorium at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre with a screening of the cult animation How To Train Your Dragon with live accompaniment. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards (including for Best Original Score for John Powell, also a guest of the evening), the Golden Globes and BAFTA. The performance is aimed at children, but if you’re an adult who remembers your childhood days you’ll be equally captivated! The music for the film, telling stories about the magical land of dragons and Vikings, is performed by the Kraków Philharmonic Choir and the Beethoven Academy Orchestra under the baton of Ernst van Tiel. The performers are joined by winners of the OF FMF competition – read more about the event on our website.

The FMF takes education seriously, featuring workshops, recording sessions, master classes and open meetings with composers, held as part of the FMF Audiovisual Forum. This year we also launched OF FMF – a brand-new programme for graduates from music academies playing string instruments, adds Magdalena Doksa-Tverberg.

We are delighted that the FMF returns to its classic format, and that we will be able to experience live music together once again.We can’t wait for the unique atmosphere of rehearsals, preparations and arrival of guests<0}We will be accompanied throughout by RMF Classic, one of the organisers of the festival.We have prepared special cycles of events, radio programmes, playlists and memories to get us all into the festival spirit.In late May, Kraków becomes a film metropolis!Join us at RMF Classic, says Magdalena Wojewoda-Mleczko, music director of RMF Classic.

Tickets go on sale on at 10am on 7 April.

You can find the full festival programme on www.fmf.fm. 

Listen along on RMF Classic. 

The Krakow Film Music Festival is organised by the City of Kraków, KBF and RMF Classic.Kraków Airport is the event’s strategic partner, with Suempol acting as a patron.

Source: press release