German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter [Photo provided to China Daily]

After studying composition under Franciszek Skolyszewski and later at the Kraków Academy of Music under Artur Malawski and Stanislaw Wiechowicz, Penderecki composed Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima in 1959, which is one of his best-known compositions. In the past six decades, Penderecki has composed more than 100 instrumental works, including 20 chamber works, 17 solo works and seven symphonies.

Besides music, the composer is also interested in gardening.

Wray Armstrong, the chairman of Armstrong Music & Arts - it is the organizer of the ongoing China tour of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sinfonia Varsovia - can attest to this. He notes that he once visited Penderecki's home in Luslawice in southern Poland and was impressed by the garden the composer designed himself.

"There are over 1,800 species of trees in the garden and two labyrinths," says Penderecki's wife Elzbieta Penderecka in Beijing. "It's one of the largest private collections in Central Europe."

"I became involved in planting trees many years ago and this is my life and my love," Penderecki says. "I like walking among the trees and looking at them growing. It's the greatest joy in my life, even more than music."