Cezary Jan Skubiszewski (born 1948) is a Polish-born Australian film and television composer. He composed the

film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for ''Two Hands'' (1999), ''Red Dog'' (2011), '' The Sapphires ('' 2012) and the TV series, '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (2018).

Personal life and education

Skubiszewski was born in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. His mother was a concert pianist. Skubiszewski, himself began piano lessons at 8 years of age and received a classical musical education over a period of 10 years under the tutelage of the director of the Warsaw Opera. In the late 1960s, Skubiszewski played in bands including ACB with other Warsaw musicians such as Aleksander Bem, Bem's sister Ewa, a vocalist,

Jan Ciecierski Jan Ciecierski (8 March 1899 – 20 February 1987) was a Polish actor. He appeared in more than 35 films and television shows between 1938 and 1981. Selected filmography * '' Warsaw Premiere'' (1951) * '' Ashes and Diamonds'' (1958) * ''Sam ...

and Grzegorz Kędzierski. While touring and performing in Europe with

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major i ...

, the British

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician and

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, Skubiszewski injured his hand in a horse-riding accident. He then spent one year in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and did not return to Poland due to the nation's political situation and his own sense of wanderlust. In 1974, Skubiszewski moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. With an interest in both horses and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

, Skubiszewski commenced a

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. In August 1978, Skubiszewski became an

Australian citizen The primary law governing nationality of Australia is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came into force on 1 July 2007 and is applicable in all states and territories of Australia. All persons born in Australia before 20 August 198 ...

. Skubiszewski has two daughters, Viva Bianca and Jan Skubiszewski. Both work in the Australian entertainment industry.

Career

In Australia, during 1978 and 1979, Skubiszewski played the

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

and

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

in his

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

band, Corroboree (an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

word meaning a meeting involving traditional dance and song). Skubiszewski's beginning as a professional music composer began with a piece urgently required for an advertisement for Lincraft, an Australian

haberdashery __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing store ...

chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many p ...

company. He first received widespread recognition as a composer when his

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for the movie, ''Lilian's Story'' won awards for best music at the

Asia-Pacific Film Festival The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (abbreviated APFF) is an annual film festival hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific (FPA). The festival was first held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. History The festival was first he ...

. Of this score, Skubiszewski said, "It was a very special experience. I wanted to find a nucleus of feeling without the little trills. It sits on you emotionally without bombarding you." Since then, Skubiszewski has worked as a self-supporting composer and arranger, conductor, producer, and musician. His music is heard in television programs such as ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

'', 19 episodes of the 1994 Australian children's program Sky ''Trackers'' (1996) and 13 episodes of ''Driven Crazy'' (1998). In 2018, Skubiszewski wrote the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the ''Picnic at Hanging Rock'' television series. Skubiszewski's movies scores include ''Two Hands'' (1999), ''Red Dog'' (2011) and ''The Sapphires'' (2012). Among his compositions for commercials is Skubiszewski's work for Carlton Draught: Big Ad, a parody of the epic style of historical movies and advertisements of large companies. He created a re-working of Carl Orff's ''Carmina Burana'' with humorous lyrics.

Awards and nominations

Skubiszewski has been nominated in Australian award programs and has won on several occasions. These programs include the APRA Awards, the

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

, the

Film Critics Circle of Australia awards The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of film criticism, cinema critics and film review, reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and fr ...

and others. Skubiszewski was nominated on five occasions in the ARIAS for ''Lillian's Story'', ''The Sound of One Hand Clapping'', ''After the Deluge'', ''Night'' and ''Red Dog: True Blue''. In 2013, the Australian Film Critics Association gave Skubiszewski the award for best music score for ''The Sapphire''. Skubiszewski won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts award for best original music score for ''Falling for Figaro'' (2021). ''Two Hands'' won the Australian Guild of Screen Composers in 1999. Skubiszewski has won the Film Critics Circle award on five occasions and nominated on another two. In 2000, Skubiszewski tied with Edmund Choi with ''The Dish''. He received the best music score award for '' Bootmen'' (2000), ''The Book of Revelation'' (2006), ''Bran Nue Dae'' (2009) and ''The Sapphires'' (2012). His nominations were for ''Beneath the Hill'' (2010) and ''Death Defying Acts'' (2007). ''Red Dog'' also won an Inside Film award in 2011.

APRA Music Awards

! , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , ''

Lilian's Story ''Lilian's Story'' is a 1996 Australian film based on a 1985 novel by Australian author Kate Grenville, which was inspired by the life of Bea Miles, a famous Sydney nonconformist. The film stars Ruth Cracknell and Toni Collette as Lilian and her ...

'' (Cezary Skubiszewski) , , Best Film Score , , , , , - ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, , '' The Sound of One Hand Clapping'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Film Score , , , , , - ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , '' Two Hands'' (C Skubiszewski, Jan Skubiszewski) , , Best Film Score , , , , , - , rowspan="4",

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, , rowspan="3", '' After the Deluge'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - , Best Television Theme , , , , , - , Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , , , , , - , ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Feature Film Score , , , , , - ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, , '' The Brush-Off'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , , , , , - ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, , '' The Society Murders'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , , , , , - , rowspan="2",

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, , rowspan="2", ''

The Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Christian Bible. Written in Greek, its title is derived from the first w ...

'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Feature Film Score of the Year , , , , , - , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - , rowspan="2",

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , ''

Night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Documentary , , , , , - , "Free Falling 2" (C Skubiszewski, J Skubiszewski, Andy Baldwin, Clairanne Browne, Jules Pascoe) – ''Night'' , , Best Original Song Composed for the Screen , , , , , - , rowspan="2",

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , '' Death Defying Acts'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - , '' Carla Cametti PD'' (C Skubiszewski, J Skubiszewski) , , Best Television Theme , , , , , - ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , '' Beneath Hill 60'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Feature Film Score , , , , , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , '' The Mystery of a Hansom Cab'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , , , , , - , rowspan="5",

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , ''Once My Mother'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Documentary , , , , , - , ''

Serangoon Road ''Serangoon Road'' is an Australian-Singaporean drama television series that premiered on 22 September 2013 on ABC and HBO Asia. It is a detective noir drama set in Singapore in the mid-1960s. The series takes its name from the eponymous roa ...

'' – "Episode 6" (C Skubiszewski, J Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Television Series or Serial , , , , , - , rowspan="2", ''

The Broken Shore The Broken Shore may refer to: * The Broken Shore (novel), a 2005 novel by Peter Temple * The Broken Shore (film), a 2014 television movie adaptation of the novel {{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Shore, The ...

'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - , rowspan="2", Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , , , , rowspan="2", , - , '' Parer’s War'' (C Skubiszewski) , , , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , ''

Women He's Undressed ''Women He's Undressed'' is a 2015 Australian documentary film about costume designer Orry-Kelly, three time winner of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, it stars Darren Gilshenan, Deborah Kennedy, David E. ...

'' (C Skubiszewski)) , , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , '' Oddball'' (C Skubiszewski)) , , Feature Film Score of the Year , , , , , - , rowspan="2",

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , ''Monsieur Mayonnaise'' (C Skubiszewski)) , , Best Music for a Documentary , , , , , - , ''Monsieur Mayonnaise'' (Deborah Morgan, C Skubiszewski) , , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (C Skubiszewski, J Skubiszewski)) , , Best Music for a Television Series or Serial , , , , , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , ''Me and My Left Brain'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Soundtrack Album , , , , , - , rowspan="3",

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , ''Chef Antonio's Recipes for Revolution'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Documentary , , , , rowspan="3", , - , rowspan="2", '' Halifax: Retribution'' (C Skubiszewski, J Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , , , - , Best Television Theme , , , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , ''Flyways'' (C Skubiszewski) , , Best Music for a Documentary , , , , , -

Selected discography

*1981 ''Home at Last'' (symphony) *1991 ''Soundescape'' (music theatre) *1994 '' Sky Trackers'' (TV) *1995 ''Lilian's Story'' (film) *1996 ''Hurah'' a.k.a. ''Heaven Sent'' (film) *1998 ''The Sound of One Hand Clapping'' (film) *1999 '' Two Hands'' (film) *1999 ''

Witch Hunt A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...

'' (TV film) *2000 ''Bootmen'' (film) *2000 '' The Wog Boy'' *2001 '' La Spagnola'' *2002 ''Black and White'' (film) *2003 ''After the Deluge'' (TV) *2003 ''

The Rage in Placid Lake ''The Rage in Placid Lake'' is a 2003 Australian film starring Ben Lee and Rose Byrne. It features Placid Lake (Lee), a seventeen-year-old boy who has led a suburban hippie life with his neurotic, free loving parents. The film documents his jou ...

'' *2004 '' The Brush-Off'' (TV) *2005 ''Hating Alison Ashley'' (film) *2006 ''

(film) *2006 ''The Society Murders'' (TV) *2007 ''Death Defying Acts'' (film) *2008 ''

'' (film) *2008 (Lionel) (film) *2009 ''Carla Cametti PD'' (TV) *2009 ''Blessed'' (film) *2009 ''Bran Nue Dae'' (film) *2010 '' Beneath Hill 60'' (film) *2010 Wolf Blass television advertisements *2011 '' Red Dog'' (film) *2012 '' The Sapphires'' (film) *2015 '' Oddball'' (film) *2016 '' Red Dog: True Blue'' (film) *2018 ''

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

'' (film) *2020 '' Mosquito State'' (film) *2021 '' Falling for Figaro'' (film)

References

External links

*
CezarySkubiszewski.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skubiszewski, Cezary 1948 births APRA Award winners Australian composers Australian film score composers Australian television composers Polish composers Polish film score composers Australian male film score composers Male television composers Living people Polish emigrants to Australia