Born in 1929 in Lwów; died in 2019 in Salzburg. Composer,  musicologist, playwright, graphic artist, philosopher and teacher,  he studied composition with Artur Malawski at the State High  School of Music in Cracow, and musicology with Zdzisław Jachimecki at the Jagiellonian University. In 1959 he completed  further formal musical training with Luigi Nono.  

Besides music, he also wrote plays. He personally directed several  of the roughly 40 he wrote, which have been staged many times in  Poland and internationally and translated into more than a dozen  languages. His graphic works, related to music to varying degrees  (and to a lesser extent to drama), have been exhibited in galleries  in Europe and the United States. In the 1950s he cooperated with Polish Radio in Cracow, PWM  Edition, and Institute of Musicology at the Jagiellonian University. From 1963 he headed the composition class at the Academy of Music in Cracow, and in 1986–2002 he also taught at  the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He trained around 160 composers  from many countries around the world. In 1970 he received  a PhD in the humanities from the University of Warsaw.

His output includes orchestral, chamber, electroacoustic, jazz,  multimedia and theatrical works that resist unambiguous stylistic  classification. He was among the pioneers of graphic, open, aleatoric, and electronic music and of instrumental theatre. A special  place in his output was occupied by his many years of cooperation with the Cracow ensemble MW2, for which he wrote many  works that are today regarded as classics of the European avantgarde. From 1965 he cooperated with the Experimental Studio  of Polish Radio.  

He was also active as a theorist and writer, authoring fundamental publications on contemporary music including the books  Nowa muzyka (New Music), Mały informator muzyki XX wieku  (A Concise Guide to Twentieth-Century Music), Wstęp do kompozycji (Introduction to Composition), and the multi-volume  compendium Kompozytorzy XX wieku (Twentieth-Century Composers). From 1967 to 1973 he was editor-in-chief of the journal  Forum Musicum. In 1990 he founded his own publishing house,  Collsch Edition, in Salzburg.

Selected works: Guillaume Apollinaire Pomes for soprano and  orchestra (1949), Nineteen Mazurkas for piano (1949), Music for  String Quartet(1954), Sonata for violin (1955), Permutations for  ten instruments (1956), Model I for piano (1956), Extrema for ten  instruments (1957), Quattro movimenti for piano and orchestra  (1957), Tertium datur for harpsichord and chamber orchestra  (1958), Monosonata for six string quartets (1959), Concerto breve  for cello and orchestra (1959), Concerto for string quartet (1959),  Topofonica for 40 instruments (1960), Joint Constructions for  string orchestra (1960), Small Symphony “Scultura” for orchestra  (1960), Azione a due for piano and instrumental ensemble (1961),  Imago musicae for violin and instrumental ensemble (1961), Codas for chamber orchestra (1961), Musica ipsa for orchestra of low  instruments (1962), Four Works for string trio (1962), TIS MW2  for actor, mime, dancer and musicians (1963), S’Alto for saxophone and chamber orchestra (1963), Collage and Form for jazz ensemble and orchestra (1963), Script for Non-Existent but Possible Instrumental Actor(1963), Symphony. Electronic Music for tape  (1964), Symphony. Orchestral Music for large orchestra (1967),  Piano Concerto no. 2 (1967), Jazz Concerto for jazz ensemble and  orchestra (1969), String Quartet no. 4 (1973), aSa for clavichord  (1973), Tentative Music for variable forces (1973), Symphony in  Nine Movements for orchestra and six solo instruments (1973),  Warsaw Ouverture (Harmonies and Counterpoints 1) for orchestra (1975), Missa elettronica for choir and tape (1975), Romuald  Traugutt (Harmonies and Counterpoints 2) for orchestra (1976),  Jangwafor double bass and orchestra (1979), Maah for computer,  violin, cello and orchestra (1979), Guitar Concerto (1984), Accordion Concerto (1984), Concerto “B-A-C-H” for organ, violin  and orchestra (1984), Missa sinfonica for soprano, violin, soprano saxophone and orchestra (1986), Concerto for flute, harp  and orchestra (1986), Saxophone Concerto (1986), Concerto  for violin, two oboes, English horn and orchestra (1986), Small  Concerto for violin and three oboes (1987), Double Concerto for  two violins and orchestra (1988), Concerto for jazz percussion,  piano and orchestra (1988), Violin Concerto no. 2 (1989), Piano  Concerto no. 3 (1990), Liebesblicke, opera (1990), Symphony  no. 6 for large orchestra (1993), Megasonata for piano (1994), Leo-  polis for violin and orchestra (1994), Orchestral and Electronic  Changes for solo instruments, electronics and orchestra (1994),  Analogies for four horns, four trumpets, four trombones and  four percussionists (1994), Clarinet Concerto (1995), Sinfonia/ Concerto for 15 soloists and orchestra (1996), Sinfonietta for  16 instruments (1996), Symphony no. 7 (1997), Enigma for large  orchestra (1997), Concerto da camera for 18 instruments (1997),  Adagio for orchestra (1998), Gestures for chamber orchestra  (1999), Das Leben einer Stadt for orchestra, three sopranos and  electronics (1999), Prolegomena for chamber orchestra (2000),  Convocations for orchestra (2000), Nine Studies on Themes of  Max Ernst for chamber orchestra (2000), Identity for orchestra  (2003), Quartett for saxophone, piano, double bass and percussion (2004), EsseH for English horn (2004), Fantasie–Impromptu for piano (2004), Piano Concerto no. 6 (2005), OSCENQOI  for voice, piano, chamber ensemble and electroacoustic media  (2005), Concerto for Percussion Orchestra for eight percussionists, clarinet, piano, violin and double bass (2005), Double Bass  Concerto no. 2 for double bass and chamber orchestra (2005),  Panorama for orchestra (2005),Duodecet for 12 cellos (2005),  String Quartet no. 16 (2006).