Only Connect, the Barbican’s unique series dedicated to crossing boundaries and confounding expectations, presents a UK premiere by world-renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner.

Sun 2 Dec 7.30pm

Zbigniew Preisner: Silence, Night & Dreams

With the LSO & special guest Teresa Salgueiro

Produced by the Barbican in association with iComo No!

Tickets £15/20/30/35


photo credit - Anna Wloch

Celebrated Polish Composer Zbigniew Preisner presents the UK premiere of his new project Silence, Night & Dreams (EMI Classics), a large scale work for orchestra, chorus and soloists, based on texts from the Book of Job, featuring Teresa Salgueiro from Madredeus.

Preisner conducts the LSO, a dozen soloists including Salgueiro, and a group of outstanding instrumentalists. The second part of the programme is a suite of Preisner’s film themes, including The Double Life Of Veronique and the Three Colours trilogy. This will be the first time Preisner has conducted in the UK and his first orchestral performance here since 1999.

Preisner (b. 1955) studied history and philosophy in Krakow and never received formal musical training. Nonetheless he is considered to be one of the most outstanding film composers of his generation, for many years enjoying a close collaboration with the late director Krzysztof Kieslowski and his script-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Probably his best-known works are his scores for Kieslowski’s films Dekalog, The Double Life Of Veronique, Three Colours Blue, Three Colours White and Three Colours Red.

But his films scores also include Louis Malle’s Damage, Luis Mandoki’s When A Man Loves A Woman and Charles Sturridge’s Fairytale: A True Story. His most recent score is for Claude Miller’s Un Secret. In 1994 Preisner was commissioned to write the title music for People’s Century, a 26-part BBC TV series documenting the history of the 20th century. Preisner’s first large-scale work Requiem for my Friend was dedicated to the memory of Krzysztof Kieslowski.

The composer is also responsible for creating a fictitious eighteenth-century Dutch composer, Van den Budenmayer, whose music (written by Preisner) is featured in a number of Kieslowski’s films. Among many awards and citations Preisner has received are the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival in 1997, two Cesars from the French Film Academy and three consecutive citations as the year’s most outstanding composer of film music in The Los Angeles Critics Association Awards of 1991,1992 and 1993.

Media partner for Silence, Night & Dreams: Plan B magazine

Concert at the Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS

Box Office: 0845 120 7550

www.barbican.org.uk