Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (* December 6, 1933 in Czernica; † November 12, 2010 in Katowice) was a Polish composer.
Górecki was born in a small village near Rybnik and grew up in Upper Silesia. He initially worked as a teacher before studying composition with Bolesław Szabelski, (a student of Karol Szymanowski) at the Katowice Conservatory.
Górecki was the forerunner of the Polish avant-garde of the late 1950s and had his first successes at the ''Warsaw Autumn Festival''. After receiving the ''Union Prize of Polish Composers'', he studied in Paris in 1961 and 1963 There he met Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
In 1975 he was appointed rector of the ''Katowice Conservatory'', but resigned from this post as early as 1979 due to political developments. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, his work became better known abroad. Górecki was able to attend numerous performances of his works in Western Europe and North America as a guest of honor.
