Krzysztof Penderecki, Jonny Greenwood's hero and collaborator, dies at 86

Krzysztof Penderecki has died at the age of 86, his family told the Polish press on 29 March. He was a leading figure of the Polish avant garde, the composer of Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, Polymorphia for 48 stringed instruments, a requiem for Pope John Paul II and eight symphonies, and his music was heard in The Shining and The Exorcist. He studied piano and violin at the Krakow conservatory and taught for many years at the city's music academy.

For Radiohead fans he was Jonny Greenwood's hero. Greenwood has told the Guardian that he met him after a concert and shook his hand, by his own account, like a starstruck fan. In Penderecki's later years they worked together: they shared a stage in Poland, went back to Threnody and Polymorphia together, and made an album for Nonesuch that sets Greenwood's 48 short responses to Polymorphia beside Penderecki's pieces.