Anthony Hopkins, 88, releases debut single as a composer

Sir Anthony Hopkins has released his first single as a composer, “Bracken Road”, ahead of a full album of orchestral work spanning more than six decades of writing. The single is drawn from Life is a Dream, an album due out on 21 August, Jack Guy reports for CNN.

According to a statement from record label Decca Classics, the two-time Oscar winner, known for roles including Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and Stevens in The Remains of the Day, has composed music privately since childhood.

He took up the piano at the age of four and begun improvising by six. By his teenage years he was already writing music for local theatre productions, and continued composing alongside his acting career throughout his life.

Hopkins said music had in many ways come before acting for him, describing some of the pieces on the album as having stayed with him for decades. Fans will be familiar with his love of the piano from a 2020 video, posted during the coronavirus pandemic, showing him playing to his cat, Niblo.

The album was recorded at Alexandra Palace in London in April, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Grammy-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and takes inspiration from Hopkins' family, his Welsh roots and his life experience more broadly.

Dudamel described Hopkins as an artist whose creative instincts translate naturally from screen to music, saying his compositions carry the same storytelling depth and emotional honesty found in his acting.