Oscar-Winning Polish Composer Jan AP Kaczmarek Dies at 71

Renowned composer Jan AP Kaczmarek passes away at 71.

Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, who won a 2005 Oscar for the score of Finding Neverland, died Tuesday at 71.

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Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, who won a 2005 Oscar for the score of Finding Neverland, died Tuesday at 71. His death, caused by a rare neurological disorder called MSA, was announced by Poland’s Music Foundation and confirmed by his wife. Kaczmarek composed music for both European and Hollywood films, including Total Eclipse (1995) and Unfaithful (2002).

He gained global fame after winning the Oscar for Best Original Score for Finding Neverland, a biographical fantasy about J.M. Barrie, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.

Kaczmarek had an unusual background for a film composer. Born in Konin in 1953, he was initially trained as a lawyer but left a potential diplomatic career to compose music for an experimental theater company led by avant-garde director Jerzy Grotowski in Poznan during the 1970s.

He then formed his own ensemble, the Orchestra of the Eighth Day, which toured Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They released an LP, "Music for the End," in 1982. Kaczmarek, who played piano, synths, percussion, and the fidola, won Europe’s Jazz Forum magazine poll five times during this period. He later lived in America.

He is survived by his second wife, Aleksandra, and five children.