Henryk Mikołaj Górecki

Henryk Górecki, a prominent Polish composer of contemporary classical music, emerged as a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde during the post-Stalin cultural thaw. Initially influenced by Anton Webern, Górecki's serialist works of the 1950s and '60s exemplified dissonant modernism, evolving by the mid-1970s into a sacred minimalist style with his Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 3, 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.' Despite a late rise to international fame in the 1990s, he remained focused on introspective composition rather than commercial success【26†source】.