Henryk Górecki

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-2010) was a Polish composer, born in Czernica in Silesia and died in Katowice. He studied with Bolesław Szabelski at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice (1955-1960), spent a postgraduate period in Paris and later taught composition at the Katowice school. His early orchestral works belonged to the Polish sonorist avant-garde, and from the 1970s he turned to slower, consonant and melodic writing. He is best known for his Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (1976).