Ignacy Jan Paderewski was a Polish pianist, composer, and politician born in 1860 in Kuryłówka, Poland who died in 1941 in New York. He was a renowned concert pianist who toured Europe and the United States in the late 19th century. He later became Prime Minister of Poland in 1919 during the establishment of Polish independence after World War I. Some of his notable musical compositions included the opera "Manru" and pieces titled "Polonia", "Fantazja polska", and various nocturnes and melodies.