Krzysztof Penderecki (born 23 November 1933 in Dębica; died 29 March 2020 in Kraków) was a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these works exhibit compositional techniques that were novel for their time. From the mid-1970s onward, Penderecki's style changed to encompass a post-Romantic idiom.