Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is stepping into a new role as a recording artist with his debut album, “Life Is a Dream,” featuring 12 compositions he has written over six decades.
The album, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, was recorded at London's Alexandra Palace in April. Decca Records will release it on Aug 21.
For Hopkins, 88, music has always been more than a hobby.
“My first love, or vocation really, is music,” he said, recalling how music influenced him while growing up in postwar Wales. He began playing the piano at age 4 and wrote his first composition, a waltz, in 1960 when he was 22.
Hopkins said composing gives him greater freedom than acting.
“Acting is a discipline, you have to know your stuff,” he said. “But music for me is a freewheeling kind of art form.”
He has already composed music for several films, including “Shadowlands,” in which he played author C.S. Lewis. He later worked on the music for “August,” “Slipstream” and “Elyse,” films in which he also acted and, in some cases, directed.
Album draws on childhood memories
Hopkins said “Life Is a Dream,” named after a play by Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca, reflects his childhood, teenage years and life growing up in Wales.
The album also carries a sense of sadness and nostalgia, he said, reflecting on the passing of time and the realities of life.
“From the moment we're born, we begin to die,” Hopkins said, joking about the rather gloomy thought.
The album's first single, “1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra: II. Bracken Road,” is part of a three-part suite inspired by a summer in South Wales. Hopkins said the piece carries a feeling of melancholy and nostalgia, particularly through its cello sounds.
He described the song as reflecting “the strange, whimsical pain of life” and the human sense of longing.
Another composition, “Stella Aria,” is named after his wife, actor and director Stella Hopkins. The piece explores loneliness but ultimately leads toward happiness, he said.
Hopkins has also been looking back on his life in his memoir, “We Did OK, Kid,” released last year.
Reflecting on his career, he said he never expected to achieve the success that came after choosing acting about 70 years ago.
“I couldn't have planned any of this,” he said, adding that he initially became an actor partly because he did not know what else to do.
Hopkins said he is grateful for his long life and has no fear of death.
“I'm just so grateful I've lived this long,” he said.
Bradley Cooper helped connect Hopkins with Dudamel
Actor Bradley Cooper played an important role in bringing Hopkins and Dudamel together.
Cooper had seen Hopkins' music performed by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under conductor Michael Seal several years ago and introduced him to Dudamel.
When Hopkins later attended the recording session at Alexandra Palace, he admitted he was surprised by the complexity of his own compositions.
“I'm sitting there thinking, ‘How the hell did I write this?’ I have no idea,” he said.
Dudamel, however, praised the music and described Hopkins as a composer with a strong sense of storytelling and emotion.
“The same depth of imagination, humanity and emotional truth that has defined his extraordinary work on stage and screen is present in his music,” Dudamel said.
Hopkins hopes to perform live
With the album set for release, Hopkins is already considering live performances, with Carnegie Hall at the top of his wish list.
The venue has special meaning for him because of the 1947 film “Carnegie Hall,” which he remembers from his childhood. He also recalls his mother telling him that one day he would perform there.
Now, decades later, Hopkins says playing at Carnegie Hall is a dream he still hopes to fulfil.
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