Abel Korzeniowski

Korzeniowski was born in Kraków. He had contact with music from early childhood: his mother Barbara plays the cello and both his brothers Antoni and Andrzej are musicians. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków majoring in cello and composer studies under the supervision of Krzysztof Penderecki.

Korzeniowski won acclaim as the composer of music for films and theatre plays. In 2000, he received his first major individual prize – Golden Lions for Best Film Score at the Gdynia Film Festival for his music to Jerzy Stuhr’s Duże Zwierzę (The Big Animal). Korzeniowski is a composer of film scores for several Polish films: Big Animal, Tomorrow's Weather, An Angel in Krakow, as well as Hollywood productions: Battle for Terra, Pu-239, Tickling Leo, A Single Man and W.E.. He composed the music for the adaptation of François Villon's 15th century work Le Testament. The play was first performed in Toruń in 2002 and was directed by Marta Stebnicka. In 2004, he composed a score for Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis for the New Horizons Film Festival, a major Polish festival. The film was shown with music performed live in Cieszyn in 2004. He won a San Diego Film Critics Society Award in 2009 for the Best score in A Single Man and was nominated for a 2009 Golden Globe in the best original score category for the same film. In 2012, he was nominated for Best Original Score for the film W.E., at the 69th Golden Globe Awards. In 2012, Korzeniowski arranged Patricia Kaas’s album, Kaas chante Piaf, which was recorded as a tribute to Edith Piaf. Since 2017, Korzeniowski has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music for drama (2005) Kaas chante Piaf (2012)