Anthony Hopkins fulfills lifelong musical dream

"Music is my first dream, my first longing. I've been writing music all my life. Some of these pieces have stayed with me for decades, and I still find myself coming back to them."

For most of the world, Anthony Hopkins is one of cinema's greatest actors. Now the 89-year-old, two-time Academy Award winner is stepping into a different spotlight, releasing a classical album after signing with the prestigious Decca Classics as a composer.

According to Decca Classics, Hopkins' album Life Is a Dream will be released Aug. 21. Although best known for performances in films such as "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), "The Two Popes" (2019) and "The Father" (2020), music has remained a constant throughout his life, quietly accompanying an acting career that has spanned more than six decades.

Hopkins began piano lessons at age 4 and was composing music for local theater productions while still in his teens. Even after establishing himself as one of Britain's most celebrated actors, he continued to write music, composing the scores for "August" (1996) and "Slipstream" (2007), both of which he directed.

According to The Guardian, "Life Is a Dream" reflects Hopkins' enduring connection to his family and his native Wales. The album's first single, "Bracken Road," grew out of memories of the streets, fields and hills where he spent his childhood. Its melody dates to an improvised piano performance Hopkins played backstage while appearing at Liverpool Playhouse in 1963.

Also featured is "My Fatherland," a tribute to Wales inspired by traditional Welsh melodies. "It's a tribute to my humble beginnings," Hopkins said. "I am the son of a baker." The album also includes deeply personal works such as Stella Aria, written for his wife, and Tara, dedicated to his niece, each inspired by the people and memories closest to him.

The recording features the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan-born music director of the New York Philharmonic. Dudamel said Hopkins approaches composition "with the heart of a storyteller and the intuition of a poet," creating music that is "deeply personal while speaking to something universal."


김태언 beborn@donga.com