Internationally-renowned Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek has accepted a commission for a piece to mark the 67th anniversary of the anti-Nazi Warsaw Rising, to be observed on 1 August.

The composition, to last from 15 to 20 minutes, will have its premiere on 29 July at the Warsaw Rising Museum in the Polish capital. Kaczmarek said that he has great respect and admiration for the courage displayed  by the young insurgents, many of whom died in the fight for freedom in 1944.  

In his view, the cultivation of the memory of events such as the Warsaw Rising is of great significance. ‘In the United States, apart from the academic circles, there is basically no knowledge of the key moments in Polish history’, he said.

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek already has two pieces referring to recent Polish history to his credit. These are The Cantata for Freedom which marked the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement (2005) and Oratorio 1956 written for the 50th anniversary of the workers’ revolt against the totalitarian regime in Poznan in 1956.

In 2005, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek received the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Finding Neverland, directed by Marc Foster.  His credits also include Agnieszka Holland’s Total Eclipse and Washington Square, as well as Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful.

Born in Konin, western Poland, in 1953, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek has been living in the United States for twenty one years. (mk)