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Jan A. P. Kaczmarek is a renowned composer with a growing international reputation. Initially a successful recording artist and touring musician, he shifted his focus to composing film scores. His first major success in the United States was in theater. After creating memorable scores for productions at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, Jan earned an Obie and a Drama Desk Award for his music in the New York Shakespeare Festival's 1992 production of John Ford's "Tis Pity She's A Whore," directed by JoAnne Akalaitis and starring Val Kilmer and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Newsday praised Jan's score for its "hypnotic force that gets under your skin," while Frank Rich of the New York Times compared it favorably to the works of Bernardo Bertolucci and Luchino Visconti.
Originally trained as a lawyer, Jan abandoned his diplomatic career plans for political reasons to pursue music and gain freedom of expression. He first composed for politically charged underground theater, then formed his own ensemble, "The Orchestra of the Eighth Day." A pivotal moment in his life was an intense period of study with avant-garde theater director Jerzy Grotowski. Kaczmarek describes playing and composing as once being like a religion to him, which eventually became his profession.
"The Orchestra of the Eighth Day" began touring Europe in the late 1970s and has completed eighteen major tours. They performed at venues such as Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the VPRO Radio International Contemporary Music Festival in Amsterdam, the Venice Biennale, and the International Music Festival in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia, where Jan received the Golden Spring Prize for Best Composition. He is also a five-time winner of Jazz Forum's Jazz Top Poll. Following the Orchestra's first American tour in 1982, Kaczmarek recorded his debut album, Music for the End, with Chicago-based independent label Flying Fish Records.
Returning to the U.S. in 1989 to find a label for his latest Orchestra composition, Jan remained in America and expanded his work in theater, achieving notable success including two prestigious New York theater awards in 1992. With prior experience composing film music in Poland, he soon concentrated on film scoring, gaining recognition for works such as "Total Eclipse," "Bliss," "Washington Square," "Aimée & Jaguar," "The Third Miracle," "Lost Souls," "Edges of the Lord," "Quo Vadis," and Adrian Lyne's "Unfaithful."
In February 2005, Jan won his first Oscar for Best Original Score for Marc Forster's acclaimed film "Finding Neverland." He also received The National Review Board's Best Score of the Year award and was nominated for both a Golden Globe and the BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music.
Beyond his film work, Jan is establishing an Institute in Poland, inspired by the Sundance Institute, to serve as a European center for developing new projects in film, theatre, music, and new media. The Institute's website (currently under construction) is www.rozbitek.org, and it is expected to begin admitting students in 2006.
