"After a long and serious illness, Krzysztof Penderecki, one of Poland's best musicians and a world authority in classical music, has died," the Polish Ministry of Culture wrote on Twitter.

Four-times Grammy-praised Krzysztof Penderecki was seen as one of the world's leading avant-garde composers, and he also wrote several operas during his career, including The Devils of Loudun, Paradise Lost and The Black Mask.

His early compositions often consisted of ghostly speakers and vibrating strings, which led to a number of film directors, over the years, caught the eye of Krzysztof Penderecki.

Music composed by the Pole has been used, among others, in William Friedkins Exorcist, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, David Lynch's Wild at HearT and Twin Peaks.

Krzysztof Penderecki also experimented across the boundaries of the genre, composing music in the 2010s with, among others, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and electropionist Aphex Twin.