Krzysztof Penderecki, the influential Polish composer and conductor, has died, The New York Times reports. Penderecki died at his home in Krakow. His death was confirmed by Andrzej Giza, the director of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association—an organization founded by Penderecki’s wife Elzbieta. He was 86.
Penderecki was born in Dębica in 1933. He studied at the Academy of Music in Krakow and became an instructor there shortly after graduating. As one in a group of young avant garde Polish composers, he found international acclaim with his 1960 composition Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. The recording of the work was released by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1969 and would later be prominently featured in Children of Men. The threnody served as the centerpiece of the eighth episode of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return.
In addition to other acclaimed works like Dies Irae (Auschwitz Oratorio) (1967), Penderecki collaborated with jazz legend Don Cherry on the album Actions (1971) and made several iconic contributions to films. His music prominently appeared in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, and Lynch’s Wild at Heart.
Penderecki has prominently influenced the compositions of Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood—the threnody’s influence can be heard in Greenwood’s early solo composition “Popcorn Superhet Receiver.” Greenwood was emphatic about his love of Penderecki in interviews, and prior to their collaboration, the iconic composer began listening to Radiohead. “I told my granddaughter, and she knew immediately who they were,” the composer said in 2012. “She is 11, and she and my children gave me some discs to hear their music. I like it very much; it is very soft, very musical.”
Though he reportedly died of a “long and serious illness” (according to Poland’s Ministry of Culture), Penderecki remained active in the music until 2019. He served as the conductor on Symphony of Sorrowful Songs—a collaborative album with Henryk Górecki, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
“What sad news to wake to,” Greenwood tweeted. “Penderecki was the greatest—a fiercely creative composer, and a gentle, warm-hearted man. My condolences to his family, and to Poland on this huge loss to the musical world.”
