KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI
Debica, Poland, November 23, 1933—Krákow, Poland, March 29, 2020
POLAND'S MOST DISTINGUISHED
and successful composer of classical music in the twentieth century,
Penderecki wrote prolifically in a variety of music forms, including
symphonies, choral works, concertos, chamber music and operas.
Penderecki’s four best-known operas were
Die Teufel von Loudon (Hamburg State Opera, 1969);
Paradise Lost (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1978);
Die Schwarze Mask (Salzburg, 1986) and
Ubu Rex (Bavarian State Opera, 1991). A much-anticipated treatment of Racine’s classic French drama
Phaedra,
planned for Vienna State Opera in 2018–19, was canceled when Penderecki
asked the company to release him from the commission. Both
Die Teufel von Loudon and
Die Schwarze Mask were first performed in the U.S. at Santa Fe Opera.
Penderecki’s music was complex and thorny, often dark but invariably compelling. His best-known non-operatic compositions were
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960),
Polymorphia (1963), the
St. Luke Passion (1963-66), the
Polish Requiem (1980-84, rev. 1993, 2005), Symphony No. 3 (1988–95), and the Grammy-winning
Credo
(2001). Penderecki also wrote concertos for violinist Anne Sophie
Mutter and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich that won them Grammys in the
late 1980s.
Also an admired conductor and teacher, Penderecki’s faculty
associations include the Yale School of Music, where he taught
composition, and the Academy of Music in Krákow.
Penderecki’s music reached millions of non-classical music fans
through the use of his compositions on the soundtracks of a number of
hit movies including
The Shining,
The Exorcist,
Wild at Heart,
Twin Peaks,
Shutter Island and
Children of Men. 
