Anthony Hopkins is giving a major-label release to music he has been writing for most of his life.
Entertainment Weekly reported that the 88-year-old Oscar winner has signed with Decca Classics and will release Life Is a Dream on Aug. 21.
Rolling Stone also reported that the album features original compositions by Hopkins, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Hopkins’ Most Personal Musical Project
Hopkins said in a statement that music was his “first desire” and that he has been composing throughout his life.
Deadline reported that the album gathers works written across more than six decades. The music is tied to Hopkins’ family, Welsh upbringing, childhood memories and the imagination that shaped him long before he became one of the most recognizable actors in the world.
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Decca described Life Is a Dream as Hopkins’ most personal musical project to date.
The first single, “Bracken Road,” comes from 1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra. Decca described the piece as a nostalgic portrait of Margam, South Wales, where Hopkins spent part of his childhood surrounded by streets, meadows, farmland and mountains.
Reuters reported that Hopkins composed “Bracken Road” in 1963, when he was a young actor at the Liverpool Playhouse and would improvise on a piano before rehearsals.
The Track List Shows How Personal the Album Is
Life Is a Dream includes 12 tracks. Decca’s listing includes “Fanfare and March,” “Farewell My Love,” “And the Waltz Goes On,” “My Fatherland,” “Margam,” the three-part 1947 Suite, “Stella Aria” and “Two Pieces for Orchestra.”
Several titles point directly to Hopkins’ personal history. “My Fatherland” pays tribute to Wales, while “Bracken Road” and “Margam” draw from the landscapes of his childhood.
Gustavo Dudamel Is Leading the Recording
The album pairs Hopkins’ compositions with major classical performers. Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, with cellist Gregorio Nieto and pianist Sergio Tiempo also featured on the recording.
Dudamel praised Hopkins as an artist whose creative voice crosses mediums. Entertainment Weekly reported that Dudamel said the same imagination, humanity and emotional truth that shaped Hopkins’ acting can also be heard in his music.
Hopkins is best known for landmark screen roles in films including The Silence of the Lambs, The Remains of the Day, Nixon and The Father. His move into a major classical recording project reveals another creative life that has been running alongside it for decades.