Threnos for 52 string instruments, composed in 1960, is dedicated to the victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and the piano concerto Resurrection was composed as a reaction to the terror attacks of 11 September 2001. Penderecki composed several of his works in remembrance of catastrophes in the 20th century.

Penderecki gained an international reputation as the conductor of both his own compositions and other works. In 1972, Penderecki was appointed as rector of the State Academy of Music in Krakow and also taught at Yale University in the USA from 1973 to 1978. His first opera The Devils of Loudon based on a book by Aldous Huxley received its premiere at the Hamburg State Opera House in 1969. The Polish composer taught at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen from 1966 to 1968. Penderecki gained a reputation with a wider public with the premiere of the St Luke Passion in Münster Cathedral in 1966. With the first performance of Anaklasis for 42 string instruments at the Donaueschingen Festival in 1960, he became part of the international avant-garde. One year later, Penderecki won all three available prizes at the II Warsaw Competition for Young Composers. From 1954, he studied composition with Artur Malewski and Stanislas Wiechowicz at the Krakow Academy of Music where he was subsequently appointed as professor in 1958. He received violin and piano tuition at a very early age and entered the Conservatoire in Krakow when he was 18. Krzysztof Penderecki was born on 23 November 1933 in Dębica (Poland). I have continued to adhere to both principles … my current creative output is a synthesis. At the same time, I have closely studied the forms, styles and harmonies of past eras. Previously at Lyric Opera: Nabucco (2015|16) Norma (1996|97) The Barber of Seville (1994|95).I have spent decades searching for and discovering new sounds. The latter is also available on CD, as are Rizzi’s performances of Cinderella (twice), La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, Faust, and operatic recital discs with Jennifer Larmore, Olga Borodina, Marcelo Álvarez, and Juan Diego Flórez. For DVD he has recorded Il trovatore at Bologna’s Teatro Comunale and La traviata at the Salzburg Festival. Under his direction the WNO orchestra was named as the 1995 Royal Philharmonic Society’s Large Ensemble of the Year. Rizzi was Welsh National Opera’s music director from 1992 to 2001, returning for a second term between 20. Rizzi has given more than 70 performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and more than 170 at the Metropolitan Opera, where he debuted in 1993 with La bohème and conducted the Barber of Seville Christmas Day performance, broadcast live to an audience of millions. Rizzi has worked with the world’s leading orchestras, companies and festivals, among them the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, Sydney’s Opera Australia, and the festivals of Edinburgh and Salzburg. Highlights of his current season include Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci (WNO) and Giordano’s rarely heard La cena delle beffe (La Scala). Critically acclaimed for appearances with major opera companies and orchestras worldwide, the Milan-born conductor has recently performed at Zürich Opera ( The Pearl Fishers), Welsh National Opera ( I puritani), and Milan’s La Scala ( Cavalleria rusticana, Tosca).

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