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Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
 (born 23 March 1944, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
) is an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of minimalist music
Minimalist music

Minimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental music or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonance and dissonance, steady pulse , stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrase or smaller units such as Figure , Motif , and Cell ....
, pianist
Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
, librettist
Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
 and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many movie scores
Soundtrack

The term soundtrack refers to three related concepts: recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; and the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded so...
 he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway

Peter Greenaway, Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom film director born in Wales. He is currently professor of cinema studies at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland....
, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album
The Piano (soundtrack)

The Piano is the original soundtrack, on the Virgin Records label, of the 1993 in film Academy Award-winning film The Piano starring Holly Hunter , Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin ....
 to Jane Campion
Jane Campion

Jane Campion is an Academy Awards-winning film maker and screenplay writer. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia ? where she now lives ? and the U.S....
's The Piano
The Piano

The Piano is a 1993 film about a mute female pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater....
.






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Micheal Nyman Close Up
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
 (born 23 March 1944, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
) is an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of minimalist music
Minimalist music

Minimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental music or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonance and dissonance, steady pulse , stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrase or smaller units such as Figure , Motif , and Cell ....
, pianist
Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
, librettist
Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
 and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many movie scores
Soundtrack

The term soundtrack refers to three related concepts: recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; and the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded so...
 he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway

Peter Greenaway, Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom film director born in Wales. He is currently professor of cinema studies at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland....
, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album
The Piano (soundtrack)

The Piano is the original soundtrack, on the Virgin Records label, of the 1993 in film Academy Award-winning film The Piano starring Holly Hunter , Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin ....
 to Jane Campion
Jane Campion

Jane Campion is an Academy Awards-winning film maker and screenplay writer. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia ? where she now lives ? and the U.S....
's The Piano
The Piano

The Piano is a 1993 film about a mute female pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater....
. His opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
s include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris....
, Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs
Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs

Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs is a 1991 in music opera by Michael Nyman that began as an opera-ballet titled La Princesse de Milan choreographed by Karine Saporta....
, Facing Goya
Facing Goya

Facing Goya is a 2000 in music opera in four acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Victoria Hardie. It is an expansion of their one-act opera called Vital Statistics from 1987, dealing with such subjects as physiognomy and its practitioners, and also incorporates a musical motif from Nyman's art song, "The Kiss and Other Movem...
, Man and Boy: Dada
Man and Boy: Dada

Man and Boy: Dada is a 2003 opera by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings . It tells the story of a friendship between aging dada artist Kurt Schwitters and a twelve-year-old boy....
, and Love Counts
Love Counts

Love Counts is a 2005 in music opera in two acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings ....
, and he has written six concerti, four string quartet
String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group....
s, and many other chamber
Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber....
 works, many for his Michael Nyman Band
Michael Nyman Band

The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 in theatre production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 Play , Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic....
, with and without whom he tours as a performing pianist. Nyman has stated his preference for writing opera to other sorts of music.

Biography


Michael Nyman was born to a working class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
, secular
Secular Jewish culture

Secular Jewish culture embraces several related phenomena; above all, it is the culture of Secularity communities of Jewish people, but it can also include the cultural contributions of individuals who identify as secular Jews, or even those of religious Jews working in cultural areas not generally considered to be connected to religion....
, Jewish family in Stratford
Stratford, London

Stratford, historically Stratford Langthorne, is a place in the London Borough of Newham in East London, England. It will be the primary location of the 2012 Summer Olympics....
, East London
East London, England

East London is the name commonly given to the north eastern part of London, England on the north side of the Thames.The London boroughs that make up this informal area are London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, London Borough of Hackney, London Borough of Havering, London Borough of Newham, London Borough of Redbridge, London Borough of T...
 who made their living assembling furs. He was raised in Chingford
Chingford

Chingford is a town in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is a suburban development situated northeast of Charing Cross. To the north and east of Chingford is Epping Forest and the boundary with Essex....
, North East London
North East London

North East London may refer to:*eastern part of North London*North East ...
, and spent the time he was supposed to be going to bar mitzvah classes remaining on the bus and riding to St. Albans or Woolwich
Woolwich

Woolwich is a suburb in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich is on the north side of the river....
. He also collected bus tickets as a hobby (a plot point in Man and Boy: Dada
Man and Boy: Dada

Man and Boy: Dada is a 2003 opera by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings . It tells the story of a friendship between aging dada artist Kurt Schwitters and a twelve-year-old boy....
). He was rejected from the Yardley Lane Primary School choir as a "tuneless growler", but his musical potential was observed by teacher Leslie Winters when he transferred to Sir George Monoux Grammar School. As the Nymans owned no musical instruments, Nyman spent copious time in the Winters household, and Leslie's brother, Geoffrey Winters, recommended Nyman to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a college or university school of music, Britian's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999....
 in London, where he had studied with Alan Bush
Alan Bush

Alan Dudley Bush was a United Kingdom composer and pianist.Bush was born in Dulwich, London, first attending Highgate School and then the Royal Academy of Music....
.

Nyman was accepted at the Royal Academy in September, 1961, and studied with Bush and Thurston Dart
Thurston Dart

Robert Thurston Dart , was an eminent United Kingdom musicology, conductor and keyboard player. From 1964 he was Professor of Music at King's College London....
, focusing on piano and seventeenth century baroque music
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
. He won the Howard Carr Memorial Prize for composition in July 1964. In 1969, he provided the libretto
Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
 for Harrison Birtwistle
Harrison Birtwistle

Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle Order of the Companions of Honour is a United Kingdom contemporary composer....
's opera, Down by the Greenwood Side and directed the short film Love Love Love (based on, and identical length to, The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
' "All You Need Is Love
All You Need Is Love

"All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link....
") before settling into music criticism, where he is generally acknowledged to have been the first to apply the term "minimalism
Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and Minimalist music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features....
" to music (in a 1968 article in The Spectator
The Spectator

The Spectator is a weekly United Kingdommagazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Daily Telegraph....
 magazine about the English composer Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew

Cornelius Cardew was an England avant-garde composer, and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an Experimental music performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated "people's liberation music"....
). He wrote introductions for George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was an England Baroque music composer of Germany birth who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerto grosso. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England....
's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6
Concerto grosso

The concerto grosso is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists and full orchestra ....
 and conducted the most important interview with George Brecht
George Brecht

George Brecht...
 in 1976.

Nyman, who had studied with the noted Baroque music
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 scholar Thurston Dart
Thurston Dart

Robert Thurston Dart , was an eminent United Kingdom musicology, conductor and keyboard player. From 1964 he was Professor of Music at King's College London....
 at King's College London
King's College London

King's College London is a United Kingdom higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the University of London. Founded by George IV of the United Kingdom and the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1829, its royal charter is predated, in England, only by those of the Universities of University of Oxford and Un...
, drew frequently on early music
Early music

Early music is commonly defined as European classical music from the Medieval music and the Renaissance music.The Early Music Movement as a trend in history is the study and performance of music from composers before our own era and began in 1829 when Felix Mendelssohn conducted Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion ....
 sources in his scores for Greenaway's films: Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell...
 in The Draughtsman's Contract
The Draughtsman's Contract

The Draughtsman's Contract is a 1982 in film United Kingdom film written and directed by Peter Greenaway.Originally produced for Channel 4 the film is a form of murder mysteryset in 1694....
 and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a 1989 film release written and directed by Peter Greenaway starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren and Alan Howard in the titular roles....
 (which included Memorial
Memorial (composition)

Memorial is an epic funeral march-like piece, composed by Michael Nyman around 1984-1985. This composition is one of the most praised in the work of Michael Nyman and has been reprised in Michael Nyman Band's The Essential Michael Nyman Band and The Very Best of Michael Nyman: 1990-2001....
 and Miserere Paraphrase), Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber in A Zed and Two Noughts, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...
 in Drowning by Numbers
Drowning by Numbers

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 in film motion picture directed by Peter Greenaway....
, and John Dowland
John Dowland

John Dowland was an England composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholia songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come Again ", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has been a source of repertoire for classical guitarists...
 in Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books

Prospero's Books , written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters....
, largely at the request of the director.

Nyman says he discovered his aesthetic playing the aria
Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment....
, "Madamina, il catalogo è questo
Madamina, il catalogo è questo

Madamina, il catalogo ? questo is an aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
" from Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with Italian language libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered in the Estates Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787 in music....
 on his piano in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame....
, which "dictated the dynamic, articulation and texture of everything I've subsequently done."

Micheal Nyman
Nyman's popularity increased significantly after he wrote the score to Jane Campion
Jane Campion

Jane Campion is an Academy Awards-winning film maker and screenplay writer. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia ? where she now lives ? and the U.S....
's award-winning 1993 film The Piano
The Piano

The Piano is a 1993 film about a mute female pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater....
. The album became a classical music best-seller. Although Nyman's score was central to the movie, he did not receive an Academy Award
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
 nomination despite being nominated for both a British Academy Award and a Golden Globe. He has scored numerous other films, the majority of them art films from Europe. His few forays into Hollywood composing have been Gattaca
Gattaca

Gattaca is a 1997 in film science fiction film drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law with supporting roles played by Loren Dean, Gore Vidal and Alan Arkin....
, Ravenous
Ravenous

Ravenous is a 1999 horror/drama film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones. The film revolves around cannibalism in 1840s California and some elements bear similarities to the story of the Donner Party and that of Alferd Packer....
 (with musician Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn, , is a Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter and record producer whose eclectic musical style and observational lyrics have made him one of England's most successful musicians of the past 20 years....
), and The End of the Affair
The End of the Affair

The End of the Affair is a novel by United Kingdom author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films that were adapted for the screen based on the novel....
. He wrote settings to various texts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...
 for "Letters, Riddles and Writs
Letters, Riddles and Writs

Letters, Riddles and Writs is a one act opera for television by Michael Nyman. The story is devised by Nyman, with a libretto by Jeremy Newson and Pat Gavin that incorporates Emily Anderson's English translations of correspondence and other texts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the subject of the opera....
", part of Not Mozart. He has also produced a soundtrack for the silent film Man with the Movie Camera.

Among Nyman's better known non-film works are the opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs
Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs

Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs is a 1991 in music opera by Michael Nyman that began as an opera-ballet titled La Princesse de Milan choreographed by Karine Saporta....
 (1987), for soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
, alto, tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
 and instrumental ensemble (based on Nyman's score for the ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
 La Princesse de Milan); Ariel Songs (1990) for soprano and band; MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse)
MGV (composition)

MGV, or Musique ? Grand Vitesse - High-Speed Music is a 1993 musical composition by England composer Michael Nyman. It was commissioned by the Festival de Lille for the inauguration of the TGV North-European Paris-Lille line and was first performed by the Michael Nyman Band and the Orchestre national de Lille under Jean-Claude Casad...
 (1993) for band and orchestra; concerto
Concerto

The term Concerto usually refers to a three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. The concerto, as understood in this modern way, arose in the Baroque period side by side with the concerto grosso, which contrasted a small group of instruments with the rest of the orchestra....
s for saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
, piano (based on The Piano score), violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
, harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
, trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
, and saxophone & cello
Cello

The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
 recorded by John Harle
John Harle

John Harle is an England saxophone and composer. In 2006 he founded Sospiro , with Tim Jackaman, communications and PR expert.Sospiro is a creative arts consultancy specialising in musical events, leadership/performance training and sonic branding....
 and Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber

Julian Lloyd Webber is one of the world's most renowned solo cellists....
; the opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris....
 (1986), based on a case-study by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks

Oliver Wolf Sacks, Doctor of Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, Order of the British Empire , is a British neurologist residing in New York City....
; and four string quartet
String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments — usually two violins, a viola and cello — or a piece written to be performed by such a group....
s. Recently, he produced a new opera on the subject of cloning
Cloning

Cloning in biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce Asexual Reproduction....
 on a libretto
Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
 by Victoria Hardie titled Facing Goya
Facing Goya

Facing Goya is a 2000 in music opera in four acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Victoria Hardie. It is an expansion of their one-act opera called Vital Statistics from 1987, dealing with such subjects as physiognomy and its practitioners, and also incorporates a musical motif from Nyman's art song, "The Kiss and Other Movem...
, an expansion of their one-act opera Vital Statistics. The lead, a widowed art banker, is written for contralto
Contralto

In music, a contralto is a type of European classical music female voice type with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. The term is used to refer to the deepest female singing voice....
 and the role was first created by Hilary Summers. His newest operas are Man and Boy: Dada
Man and Boy: Dada

Man and Boy: Dada is a 2003 opera by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings . It tells the story of a friendship between aging dada artist Kurt Schwitters and a twelve-year-old boy....
 (2003) and Love Counts
Love Counts

Love Counts is a 2005 in music opera in two acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings ....
 (2005), both on libretti by Michael Hastings
Michael Hastings (playwright)

Michael Gerald Hastings is a United Kingdom playwright, screen-writer, and occasional novelist and poet.He is probably best known for his 1984 play about the poet T.S....
.

On children's television shows, he has created the music for Katie and Orbie
Katie and Orbie

Katie and Orbie is an animation television series aimed at preschoolers, originally broadcast in Canada in 1994 by Family and later aired in the United States on PBS from 1995-1997 and on Disney Channel from 1997-1999....
 and Titch.

Many of Nyman's works are written for his own ensemble, the Michael Nyman Band
Michael Nyman Band

The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 in theatre production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 Play , Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic....
, a group formed for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Goldoni

Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was a celebrated Republic of Venice playwright and librettist, whom critics today rank among the European theatre's greatest authors....
's Il Campiello. Originally made up of old instruments such as rebec
Rebec

The rebec is a bowed string instrument musical instrument. In its most common form, it has three strings and is played on the arm or under the chin, like a violin....
s and shawm
Shawm

The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century....
s alongside more modern instruments like the saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
 in order to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it later switched to a fully amplified lineup of string quartet, three saxophones, trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
, horn
Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It is descended from the natural horn and is informally known as the French horn....
, bass trombone, bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
 and piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
. This line up has been variously altered and augmented for some works.

Nyman also published an influential book in 1974 on experimental music called (, and translations), which explored the influence of John Cage
John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer. A pioneer of Aleatoric music, electronic music and Extended technique, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde and, in the opinion of many, the most influential American composer of the 20th century....
 on classical composers. In the 1970s, Nyman was a member of the infamous Portsmouth Sinfonia
Portsmouth Sinfonia

The Portsmouth Sinfonia was a real orchestra founded by a group of students at Portsmouth School of Art in Portsmouth, England, in 1970?however, the Sinfonia had an unusual entrance requirement....
 — the self-described World's Worst Orchestra — playing on their recordings and in their concerts. He was the featured pianist on the orchestra's recording of Bridge Over Troubled Waters on the Martin Lewis
Martin Lewis

Martin Neil Lewis is a United States-based England humorist, writer, radio/TV host, producer and Marketing strategy. He is known for his participation in a variety of projects in the arts and entertainment worlds including his work as the co-creator and co-producer of the The Secret Policeman's Balls benefit shows for Amnesty Internatio...
-produced 20 Classic Rock Classics album on which the Sinfonia gave their unique interpretations to the pop and rock repertoire of the 1950s-1970s. Nyman created a similar group called Foster's Social Orchestra, which specialized in the work of Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music," was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. His songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" , "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer" remain popular over 150 years after their composition....
. One of their tracks appeared in the film Ravenous
Ravenous

Ravenous is a 1999 horror/drama film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones. The film revolves around cannibalism in 1840s California and some elements bear similarities to the story of the Donner Party and that of Alferd Packer....
 and an additional track, not used in the film, appeared on the soundtrack album.

He has also recorded pop music, with the Flying Lizards; a version of his Bird List from the soundtrack to Peter Greenaway's The Falls
The Falls

The Falls is a 1980 film Film director by Peter Greenaway. It was Greenaway's first feature-length film after many years making shorts. It does not have a traditional dramatic narrative; it takes the form of a mockumentary in 92 short parts....
 appears on their album Fourth Wall under the title "Hands 2 Take."

On 7 July 2007 Nyman performed at Live Earth
Live Earth

Live Earth is an annual event developed to combat global warming....
 in Japan
Live Earth concert, Kyoto

One of the Live Earth concerts in Japan was held at To-ji, Kyoto on 7 July 2007....
.

On 2008 Nyman realized, in collaboration with the cultural association Volumina, Sublime
Sublime

Sublime may refer to:* Sublime ** their third album Sublime * Sublime * Sublime , the DV8 superhero* Sublime , the X-Men supervillain* Sublime , a 2007 horror movie...
, an artist's book that unified his music with his passion for photography.

In a collaboration with friends Max Pugh
Max Pugh

Max Pugh is a young France-English people filmmaker based in London, England. He is bilingual, speaking fluent English and French.He has directed documentaries on a number of subjects, from arts and music to geopolitical issues for the BBC and Channel Four....
 and Marc Silver, Nyman is now beginning to exhibit his films and photography. Nyman’s videoworks are filmed with a hand-held camera. Usually spontaneous, they work as visual diaries of his inquisitive mind. Most often taken before and after concerts and as part of his international travels, video works feature everyday moments or episodes that Nyman has chanced upon and chosen to record; lingering on unfolding events, capturing the unexpected, or focusing on the less seen. Some works are left relatively unedited whilst other video works undergo further experimentation with split screens and visual repetition.

Soundtracks to some of the video works use location sounds, whilst others recycle existing scores from his archive, or a combination of both to create sound/ score montages.

Personal life

He is married to Aet Nyman and has two daughters, Molly and Martha. His first string quartet quotes "Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody

"Unchained Melody" is a popular song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
" in homage to Aet, who appears in Greenaway's The Falls
The Falls

The Falls is a 1980 film Film director by Peter Greenaway. It was Greenaway's first feature-length film after many years making shorts. It does not have a traditional dramatic narrative; it takes the form of a mockumentary in 92 short parts....
, for which he also composed music. Molly
Molly Nyman

Molly Nyman has composed numerous film scores, mostly in collaboration with Harry Escott. She is the elder daughter of composer Michael Nyman, and appeared in Peter Greenaway's The Falls, as did her mother, Aet Nyman....
 is a composer in her own right; in collaboration with Harry Escott
Harry Escott

Harry Escott has composed numerous film scores, mostly in collaboration with Molly Nyman....
 she has written several film scores including for The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo

The Road to Guantanamo is a United Kingdom 2006 in film docudrama directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British detainees at a Guantanamo Bay Detainment Camp in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba....
 by her father's frequent collaborator, Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom

Michael Winterbottom is a prolific United Kingdom filmmaker who has directed sixteen films in the past thirteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features....
. Martha is a development researcher for the BBC. Michael Nyman supports Queens Park Rangers football club.

Career highlights

  • 1961-67 - Studies at the Royal Academy of Music
    Royal Academy of Music

    The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a college or university school of music, Britian's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999....
     and King's College London
    King's College London

    King's College London is a United Kingdom higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the University of London. Founded by George IV of the United Kingdom and the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1829, its royal charter is predated, in England, only by those of the Universities of University of Oxford and Un...
    .
  • 1968-78 - Works as music critic (becoming first person to apply the word "minimalist" to music).
  • 1976 - Founds the Campiello Band (now the Michael Nyman Band
    Michael Nyman Band

    The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 in theatre production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 Play , Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic....
    ) and embarks on eleven-film collaboration with Peter Greenaway.
  • 1981 - Releases first Michael Nyman Band album.
  • 1993 - Soundtrack for The Piano
    The Piano

    The Piano is a 1993 film about a mute female pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater....
     wins an Ivor Novello Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and American Film Institute
    American Film Institute

    The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B....
     award and goes on to sell over three million copies.
  • 2002-2005 - Composer-in-Residence at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe
    Karlsruhe

    Karlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the States of Germany Baden-W?rttemberg, located near the France-German border.Founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, the surrounding town became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany whose decisions have the force of a law, and the...
    , Germany
    Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
    , who performed three Nyman operas and more tunes for his daughters.
  • 2007 - Performed on 7 July from Kyoto
    Kyoto

    Sorry, no overview for this topic
    , Japan as part of the Live Earth
    Live Earth

    Live Earth is an annual event developed to combat global warming....
     global environmental awareness musical event.


Honours

Nyman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Nyman was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) from The University of Warwick on 30th January 2007. At the ceremony The University of Warwick Brass Society and Chamber Choir, conducted by Paul McGrath, premiered a specially composed procession and recession fanfare composed by Nyman.

Works


  • 1963 - Introduction and Allegro Concertato for Wind Quartet (lost)
  • 1963 - Divertimento for Flute, Oboe and Clarinet
  • 1965 - Canzona for Flute
  • 1974 - Bell Set No. 1 (multiple metal percussion)
  • 1976 - 1-100 (4-6 pianos)
  • 1976 - (First) Waltz in D (variable)
  • 1976 - (Second) Waltz in F (variable)
  • 1977 - In Re Don Giovanni (ensemble)
  • 1978 - The Otherwise Very Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz (multiple pianos)
  • 1979 - "The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife
    "The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife

    "The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife is a 1979 performance sculpture by Paul Richards and Bruce McClean with music by Michael Nyman. The companion album is the second release by Michael Nyman and the first release including the Michael Nyman Band....
     (ensemble)
  • 1980 - A Neat Slice of Time (choir)
  • 1981 - Think Slow, Act Fast (ensemble)
  • 1981 - Five Orchestral Pieces for Opus willi (band*) (based on Anton Webern
    Anton Webern

    Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and Conducting. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known proponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of pitch, rhythm and dynamics were formative...
    's Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 10)
  • 1981 - M-Work (band)
  • 1981 - 2 Violins
  • 1982 - Four Saxes (Real Slow Drag) (saxophone quartet)
  • 1983 - A Handsome, Smooth, Sweet, Smart, Clear Stroke: Or Else Play Not At All (orchestra)
  • 1983 - Time's Up (chamber ensemble)
  • 1983 - I'll Stake My Cremona to a Jew's Trump (electric violin and viola, both players also simultaneously singing)
  • 1983 - Love is Certainly, at Least Alphabetically Speaking (soprano and band)
  • 1984 - The Abbess of Andouillets (choir)
  • 1985 - Nose-List Song (soprano and orchestra) [this and the above three works are from an unfinished opera
    Tristram Shandy (opera)

    Tristram Shandy is an unfinished opera project by Michael Nyman based on his favorite novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne, begun in 1981....
     setting of Laurence Sterne
    Laurence Sterne

    Laurence Sterne was an Ireland-born England novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published Sermons of Laurence Sterne, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics....
    's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
    The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

    The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a novel by Laurence Sterne. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next 10 years....
    , which Nyman has repeatedly cited as his all-time favorite book]
  • 1985 - Childs
    Lucinda Childs

    Lucinda Childs is an American postmodern dance dancer/choreographer. Her compositions are known for their minimalism movements yet complex transitions....
     Play     (2 violins; harpsichord)
  • 1985 - String Quartet No. 1
  • 1986 - Taking a Line for a Second Walk
    Taking a Line for a Second Walk

    Taking a Line for a Second Walk is the name of piano duo reduction of a dance work for orchestra by Michael Nyman, Basic Black , written in 1986 in music for the Houston Ballet....
     (for orchestra (Basic Black) or piano duet)
  • 1986 - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)

    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris....
     (opera; libretto by Christopher Rawlence; adapted
    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients....
     from the Oliver Sacks
    Oliver Sacks

    Oliver Wolf Sacks, Doctor of Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, Order of the British Empire , is a British neurologist residing in New York City....
     case study
    Case study

    A case study is one of several ways of doing research whether it is social science related or even socially related. It is an intensive study of a single group, incident, or community.Other ways include experiments, statistical survey, multiple histories, and analysis of archival information ....
     by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris
    Michael Morris

    Michael or Mick Morris may refer to:*Michael Morris, 1st Baron Killanin , Irish lawyer and political figure, became the first Lord Killanin in 1900....
    )
  • 1986 - And Do They Do
    And Do They Do/Zoo Caprices

    And Do They Do/Zoo Caprices is the eighth album release by Michael Nyman and the fifth feauring the Michael Nyman Band. And Do They Do is a modern dance work commission by Siobhan Davies and The London Contemporary Dance Theatre, which premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre on November 25, 1986....
     (modern dance, 1986)
  • 1987 - Vital Statistics (opera; libretto by Victoria Hardie)
  • 1988 - String Quartet No. 2
  • 1989 - Out of the Ruins
    Out of the Ruins

    Out of the Ruins is a choral work by Michael Nyman for an eponymous BBC documentary by Agnieszka Piotrowska in commemorating the first anniversary of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia December 7, 1988, which aired on the BBC's 40 Minutes....
     (choir)
  • 1989 - La Traversée de Paris
    La Traversée de Paris (album)

    La Travers?e de Paris is an album by the Michael Nyman Band featuring music composed by Michael Nyman for an audio-visual exhibition of the same name which took place at the Grande Arche from July to December of 1989 to celebrate the Anniversary of the French Revolution....
     (soprano and band)
  • 1989 - The Fall of Icarus (band)
  • 1989 - L'Orgie Parisienne Arthur Rimbaud
    Arthur Rimbaud

    Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French people poet, born in Charleville-M?zi?res. As part of the decadent movement, his influence on modern literature, music and art has been enduring and pervasive....
     setting (soprano or mezzo soprano and orchestra)
  • 1990 - Shaping the Curve (soprano saxophone, string quartet or piano)
  • 1990 - Six Celan
    Paul Celan

    Paul Celan was the most frequently used pseudonym of the romanian jew Paul Antschel, one of the major poets of the post-World War II era....
     Songs     (contralto and orchestra)
  • 1990 - Polish Love Song (soprano and piano)
  • 1990 - String Quartet No. 3
  • 1991 - The Michael Nyman Songbook
    The Michael Nyman Songbook

    The Michael Nyman Songbook is a collection of art songs by Michael Nyman based on texts by Paul Celan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, William Shakespeare and Arthur Rimbaud....
     A collection of songs based on texts by Paul Celan
    Paul Celan

    Paul Celan was the most frequently used pseudonym of the romanian jew Paul Antschel, one of the major poets of the post-World War II era....
    , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at seventeen he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always...
    , William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
    , and Arthur Rimbaud
    Arthur Rimbaud

    Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French people poet, born in Charleville-M?zi?res. As part of the decadent movement, his influence on modern literature, music and art has been enduring and pervasive....
     and recorded with vocalist Ute Lemper
    Ute Lemper

    Ute Lemper is a German chanteuse and actress renowned for her interpretation of the work of Kurt Weill....
    .
  • 1991 - Where the Bee Dances (soprano saxophone and orchestra)
  • 1991 - Fluegelhorn and Piano
  • 1992 - Time Will Pronounce
    Time Will Pronounce

    Time Will Pronounce: The 1992 Commissions is a 1993 album by Michael Nyman, his eighteenth release. Nyman does not actually perform on the album, but he composed all the music, produced it, and wrote the liner notes....
     (violin, cello, and piano)
  • 1992 - For John Cage
    Time Will Pronounce

    Time Will Pronounce: The 1992 Commissions is a 1993 album by Michael Nyman, his eighteenth release. Nyman does not actually perform on the album, but he composed all the music, produced it, and wrote the liner notes....
     (brass ensemble)
  • 1992 - Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna and Her Omnipotence
    Time Will Pronounce

    Time Will Pronounce: The 1992 Commissions is a 1993 album by Michael Nyman, his eighteenth release. Nyman does not actually perform on the album, but he composed all the music, produced it, and wrote the liner notes....
     (alto and string orchestra or countertenor and viol consort)
  • 1992 - The Convertibility of Lute Strings
    Time Will Pronounce

    Time Will Pronounce: The 1992 Commissions is a 1993 album by Michael Nyman, his eighteenth release. Nyman does not actually perform on the album, but he composed all the music, produced it, and wrote the liner notes....
     (solo harpsichord)
  • 1992 - Anne de Lucy Songs (soprano and piano)
  • 1992 - The Upside-Down Violin (orchestra/ensemble)
  • 1993 - MGV: Musique à grande vitesse
    MGV (composition)

    MGV, or Musique ? Grand Vitesse - High-Speed Music is a 1993 musical composition by England composer Michael Nyman. It was commissioned by the Festival de Lille for the inauguration of the TGV North-European Paris-Lille line and was first performed by the Michael Nyman Band and the Orchestre national de Lille under Jean-Claude Casad...
     (band and orchestra)
  • 1993 - The Piano Concerto (piano and orchestra)
  • 1993 - Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs
    Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs

    Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs is a 1991 in music opera by Michael Nyman that began as an opera-ballet titled La Princesse de Milan choreographed by Karine Saporta....
     (1993; opera-ballet setting William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
    's The Tempest
    The Tempest

    The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610?11, although some researchers have argued for an earlier dating. Its protagonist is the banished sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, who uses his magical powers to punish and forgive his enemies when he raises a tempest that drives them ashore....
    )
  • 1993 - Yamamoto Perpetuo
    Michael Nyman for Yohji Yamamoto

    'Michael Nyman for Yohji Yamamoto' is volume 2 of Yohji Yamamoto's series of albums, The Show . The album features the solo violin work Yamamoto Perpetuo , which Nyman has since adapted into the String Quartet No....
     (violin solo)
  • 1993 - Songs for Tony (saxophone quartet)
  • 1994 - To Morrow (soprano or soprano saxophone, organ)
  • 1994 - 3 Quartets
    The Suit and the Photograph

    The Suit and the Photograph is a 1998 in music album by Michael Nyman with the Michael Nyman Band, recorded in 1995. On this album, Nyman is the composer, conducting, and music producer, and wrote the liner notes....
     (ensemble)
  • 1994 - Concerto for Trombone (trombone, orchestra, and steel filing cabinets)
  • 1995 - String Quartet No. 4
    The Suit and the Photograph

    The Suit and the Photograph is a 1998 in music album by Michael Nyman with the Michael Nyman Band, recorded in 1995. On this album, Nyman is the composer, conducting, and music producer, and wrote the liner notes....
  • 1995 - Tango for Tim (In memoriam Tom Suster) (harpsichord)
  • 1995 - The Waltz Song (unison voices)
  • 1995 - Viola and Piano
  • 1995 - Grounded (mezzo-soprano, saxophones, violin, piano)
  • 1995 - HRT [High Rise Terminal] (chamber ensemble)
  • 1995 - Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings
  • 1995 - Double Concerto for Saxophone and Cello (saxophone, cello, and orchestra)
  • 1996 - After Extra Time
    After Extra Time (album)

    After Extra Time is a 1996 in music album by Michael Nyman with the Michael Nyman Band containing three tributes to Nyman's fandom of Association football: After Extra Time, the soundtrack to The Final Score, and Memorial ....
     (ensemble)
  • 1997 - Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks
    Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks

    Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks is a 1998 in music album by the English Sinfonia conducting by Bramwell Tovey. The work, by Michael Nyman, is paired with The Protecting Veil by John Tavener featuring Josephine Knight on the cello....
     (orchestra)
  • 1997 - The Promise (piano)
  • 1998 - Cycle of Disquietude (Coisas, Vozes, Lettras) (soprano, mezzo-soprano, and band)
  • 1998 - Orfeu (band)
  • 1998 - De Granada A La Luna (band)
  • 1999 - The Commissar Vanishes (band)
  • 2000 - Facing Goya
    Facing Goya

    Facing Goya is a 2000 in music opera in four acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Victoria Hardie. It is an expansion of their one-act opera called Vital Statistics from 1987, dealing with such subjects as physiognomy and its practitioners, and also incorporates a musical motif from Nyman's art song, "The Kiss and Other Movem...
     (opera; libretto by Victoria Hardie)
  • 2001 - a dance he little thinks of (orchestra)
  • 2003 - Violin Concerto (violin and orchestra)
  • 2003 - Man and Boy: Dada
    Man and Boy: Dada

    Man and Boy: Dada is a 2003 opera by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings . It tells the story of a friendship between aging dada artist Kurt Schwitters and a twelve-year-old boy....
     (opera; libretto by Michael Hastings
    Michael Hastings (playwright)

    Michael Gerald Hastings is a United Kingdom playwright, screen-writer, and occasional novelist and poet.He is probably best known for his 1984 play about the poet T.S....
    )
  • 2005 - Love Counts
    Love Counts

    Love Counts is a 2005 in music opera in two acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Michael Hastings ....
     (opera; libretto by Michael Hastings)
  • 2006 - gdm for Marimba and Orchestra (concerto)
  • 2006 - Acts of Beauty' (song cycle)
  • 2007 - A Handshake in the Dark
    A Handshake in the Dark

    A Handshake in the Dark is an anti-war choral piece by Michael Nyman, based on texts by the Iraqi poet Jamal Jum?, an exiled poet living in Denmark, and constitutes a series of imaginary letters to his younger brother, a conscript captured by the Americans and whose whereabouts were long unknown....
     (choral piece with orchestra; text by Jamal Jumá
    Jamal Jumá

    Jamal Jum?, An Iraqi poet and researcher, born in Baghdad, and since 1984 lived in Denmark. Has Bachelor of Arts in Arabic Literature from University of Basrah and Master degree in Semitic Philology from the University of Copenhagen....
     [world premiere 8 March 2007, Barbican, London, performed by the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, John Storgards conducting])
  • 2007 - Interlude in C (expansion of a theme from The Libertine
    The Libertine

    The Libertine may refer to:*The Libertine , a 1969 Italian film*Le Libertin , a 2000 French film starring Audrey Tautou*The Libertine , a 2005 film starring Johnny Depp...
     for Accent07 touring ensemble)
  • 2007 - Eight Lust Songs song cycle


*originally recorded by Nyman, Ned Sublette
Ned Sublette

Ned Sublette is an United States composer, musician, record producer and musicologist. He is a classically trained guitarist, and studied musical composition with Kenneth Gaburo at the University of California, San Diego....
, Susan Krongold, Barbara Benary
Barbara Benary

Barbara Benary is an American composer and ethnomusicologist specializing in Indonesian music and Indian music. In 1976 she co-founded Gamelan Son of Lion with Philip Corner and Daniel Goode; she also constructed most of the group's instruments....
, Jon Gibson
Jon Gibson (minimalist musician)

Jon Gibson is a flute, saxophone, and composer who uses other instruments from around the world in his performances and is known for his jazz and Classical music contributions....
, Richard Cohen
Richard Cohen

Richard Cohen may refer to:*Richard Cohen , syndicated columnist for the Washington Post*Richard A. Cohen, advocate of conversion therapy...
, Virgil Blackwell, Peter Zummo
Peter Zummo

Peter Zummo is an United States composer and musician. He plays the trombone, valve trombone, euphonium, synthesizer, other electronic instruments, and also sings....
, and Peter Gordon
Peter Gordon

Peter Gordon may refer to:* Peter Gordon , celebrity chef from New Zealand* Peter Gordon , composer and musician based in New York City* Peter Gordon , radio presenter in Surrey, England...
 at The Kitchen
The Kitchen

The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art space in New York City.The Kitchen was founded in Greenwich Village in 1971 and it takes it name from its original location, the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center....
, and intended for Peter Greenaway's short film, The Tree.

Music for films, television, and video games

  • Tree (1966)
  • 5 Postcards from Capital Cities (1967)
  • Goole by Numbers (1976)
  • Keep It Up Downstairs (1976)
  • Tom Phillips
    Tom Phillips (artist)

    Tom Phillips Order of the British Empire is an England artist. He was born in London, where he continues to work. He is a Painting and Collage, and works in other media as well....
     (1977)
  • A Walk Through H: The Reincarnation of an Ornithologist (1978)
  • Vertical Features Remake
    Vertical Features Remake

    Vertical Features Remake is a film by Peter Greenaway. It contains the following four film-within-a-films, each with a documentary-like introduction:...
     (1978)
  • 1-100 (1978)
  • The Falls
    The Falls

    The Falls is a 1980 film Film director by Peter Greenaway. It was Greenaway's first feature-length film after many years making shorts. It does not have a traditional dramatic narrative; it takes the form of a mockumentary in 92 short parts....
     (1980)
  • Act of God (1980)
  • Terence Conran
    Terence Conran

    Sir Terence Orby Conran, Chartered_Society_of_Designers, is an England designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer....
     (1981)
  • The Draughtsman's Contract
    The Draughtsman's Contract

    The Draughtsman's Contract is a 1982 in film United Kingdom film written and directed by Peter Greenaway.Originally produced for Channel 4 the film is a form of murder mysteryset in 1694....
     (1982)
  • Brimstone & Treacle
    Brimstone and Treacle

    Brimstone and Treacle is a 1976 play by Dennis Potter which is best known via adaptations as a 1976 BBC television play and a 1982 film co-starring Sting ....
     (1982) (collaboration with Sting)
  • Nelly's Version (1983)
  • The Coastline
    The Coastline

    The Coastline is a film by Peter Greenaway, made in 1983. Also known as The Sea in Their Blood, and exhibited at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich UK, as Beside the Sea....
     (1983)
  • Making a Splash (1984)
  • The Cold Room
    The Cold Room

    The Cold Room is a 1984 in television cable television television film by James Dearden. Based on an eponymous 1978 science fiction novel by Jeffrey Caine, the film stars George Segal, Amanda Pays , Anthony Higgins , Ren?e Soutendijk, and Warren Clarke....
     (1984)
  • Fairly Secret Army
    Fairly Secret Army

    Fairly Secret Army was a British situation comedy which ran to thirteen episodes over two series between 1984 and 1986. Though not a direct spin-off from The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, the lead character, Major Harry Truscott, was very similar to Geoffrey Palmer's character of Jimmy in that series, and the scripts were written...
     (1984)
  • A Zed & Two Noughts
    A Zed & Two Noughts

    A Zed & Two Noughts is a 1985 in film film written and directed by Peter Greenaway....
     (1985)
  • The Kiss
    The Kiss

    The Kiss may refer to:...
     (1985)
  • Inside Rooms: 26 Bathrooms, London & Oxfordshire, 1985 (1985)
  • L'Ange frénétique (1985)
  • Ballet mécanique
    Ballet mécanique

    Ballet M?canique was a project by the American composer George Antheil and the filmmaker/artist Fernand L?ger. Although the film was intended to use Antheil's score as a soundtrack, the two parts were not brought together until the 1990s....
     (1986 score; 1921 film)
  • I'll Stake My Cremona to a Jew's Trump
    Tristram Shandy (opera)

    Tristram Shandy is an unfinished opera project by Michael Nyman based on his favorite novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne, begun in 1981....
     (1986)
  • The Disputation (1986)
  • Le Miraculé (1987)
  • The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)

    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris....
     (1987)
  • Fear of Drowning (1988)
  • Death in the Seine (1988)
  • Drowning by Numbers
    Drowning by Numbers

    Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 in film motion picture directed by Peter Greenaway....
     (1988)
  • Out of the Ruins
    Out of the Ruins

    Out of the Ruins is a choral work by Michael Nyman for an eponymous BBC documentary by Agnieszka Piotrowska in commemorating the first anniversary of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia December 7, 1988, which aired on the BBC's 40 Minutes....
     (1989)
  • Hubert Bals Handshake (1989)
  • Monsieur Hire
    Monsieur Hire

    Monsieur Hire is a 1989 French film directed by Patrice Leconte and starring Michel Blanc in the title role and Sandrine Bonnaire as the object of his affection....
     (1989)
  • The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
    The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

    The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a 1989 film release written and directed by Peter Greenaway starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren and Alan Howard in the titular roles....
     (1989)
  • La Sept
    La Sept

    La Sept was a France television Broadcasting and production company created on 23 February 1986 to develop cultural and educational programming for transmission via the TDF 1 communications satellite....
     (1989)
  • Men of Steel (1990)
  • Les Enfants volants (1990)
  • The Hairdresser's Husband
    The Hairdresser's Husband

    The Hairdresser's Husband , a 1990 France film written by Patrice Leconte and Claude Klotz, and directed by Patrice Leconte. Jean Rochefort stars as the title character....
     (1990)
  • Ich war ein glücklicher Mensch (1991)
  • Prospero's Books
    Prospero's Books

    Prospero's Books , written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters....
     (1991)
  • Not Mozart: Letters, Riddles and Writs
    Letters, Riddles and Writs

    Letters, Riddles and Writs is a one act opera for television by Michael Nyman. The story is devised by Nyman, with a libretto by Jeremy Newson and Pat Gavin that incorporates Emily Anderson's English translations of correspondence and other texts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the subject of the opera....
     (1991)
  • The Fall of Icarus
    The Fall of Icarus

    The Fall of Icarus may refer to:*Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, a painting once believed to be by Pieter Bruegel*An art installation by Peter Greenaway from 1986, with The Commissar Vanishes by Michael Nyman....
     (1992)
  • The Final Score (1992)
  • The Piano
    The Piano

    The Piano is a 1993 film about a mute female pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier New Zealand backwater....
     (1993)
  • Mesmer (1994)
  • À la folie
    À la folie

    ? la folie is a 1994 in film film by Diane Kurys with music by Michael Nyman....
     (1994)
  • Anne No Nikki (Japanese anime adaption of The Diary of Anne Frank) (1995)
  • Carrington
    Carrington (film)

    Carrington is a film released in 1995 in film about the life of the England artist Dora Carrington, who was known simply as Carrington....
     (1995)
  • The Ogre
    The Ogre (film)

    The Ogre is a 1996 in film film based on the 1970 novel by Michel Tournier, Le Roi des aulnes . Directed by Volker Schl?ndorff, it stars John Malkovich as a simple man who recruits children to be Nazis in the belief that he is protecting them....
     (1996)
  • Enemy Zero
    Enemy Zero

    Enemy Zero is a video game for Sega Saturn, developed by the company WARP and directed by WARP founder Kenji Eno. After its Saturn release, it was later porting to Microsoft Windows....
     (1996)
  • Anzar (1997)


  • Gattaca
    Gattaca

    Gattaca is a 1997 in film science fiction film drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law with supporting roles played by Loren Dean, Gore Vidal and Alan Arkin....
     (1997)
  • Titch (1998)
  • Practical Magic
    Practical Magic

    Practical Magic is a 1998 in film family film fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witches who carry on a family legacy of witchcraft and tragedy....
     (1998) (unused score; 2 cuts made it onto early soundtrack pressings)
  • Ravenous
    Ravenous

    Ravenous is a 1999 horror/drama film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones. The film revolves around cannibalism in 1840s California and some elements bear similarities to the story of the Donner Party and that of Alferd Packer....
     (1999) (collaboration with Damon Albarn
    Damon Albarn

    Damon Albarn, , is a Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter and record producer whose eclectic musical style and observational lyrics have made him one of England's most successful musicians of the past 20 years....
    )
  • Wonderland
    Wonderland (1999 film)

    Wonderland is a 1999 in film drama film about the lives of a London couple and their three adult daughters. The film was directed by Michael Winterbottom, and stars Shirley Henderson, Gina McKee, John Simm and Molly Parker....
     (1999)
  • Nabbie's Love
    Nabbie's Love

    Nabbie's Love is a 1999 in film film written and directed by Yuji Nakae about a grandmother named Nabbie Agarikinjo, played by Tomi Taira. The film score is by Kenichiro Isoda and Michael Nyman, working separately....
     (1999)
  • The End of the Affair
    The End of the Affair

    The End of the Affair is a novel by United Kingdom author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films that were adapted for the screen based on the novel....
     (1999)
  • Act Without Words I
    Act Without Words I

    Act Without Words I is a short Play by Samuel Beckett. It is a mime, Beckett's first . Like many of Beckett's works, the play was originally written in French language , being translated into English language by Beckett himself....
     (2000)
  • The Claim
    The Claim

    The Claim is a 2000 in film United Kingdom Western /romance film directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce is loosely based on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy....
     (2000)
  • Man with a Movie Camera
    Man with a Movie Camera

    Man with a Movie Camera, sometimes The Man with the Movie Camera, The Man with a Camera, The Man With the Kinocamera, or Living Russia ) is an experimental 1929 in film silent film documentary film by Russian director Dziga Vertov....
     (1929 film; 2001 score)
  • Subterrain (2001)
  • Haute fidélité (2001)
  • 24 Heures de la vie d'une femme
    24 Heures de la vie d'une femme

    24 Heures de la vie d'une femme is a 2002 in film film by Laurent Bouhnik, based on the novel 24 Stunden aus dem Leben einer Frau by Stefan Zweig....
     (2001)
  • The Actors
    The Actors

    The Actors is a 2003 in film film written and directed by Conor McPherson and starring Dylan Moran and Michael Caine. In supporting roles are Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson and Lena Headey ....
     (2003)
  • Nathalie...
    Nathalie...

    Nathalie... is a 2004 in film France film directed by Anne Fontaine , and starring Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle B?art, and G?rard Depardieu. It is distributed by Koch-Lorber Films....
     (2003)
  • Luminal
    Luminal (film)

    Luminal is the debut film from Italian people film director Andrea Vecchiato.Named after the drug phenobarbitone, the film is based on the cult novel by Italian writer Isabella Santacroce....
     (2004)
  • The Libertine
    The Libertine (2005 film)

    The Libertine is a 2004 in film Film that was widely released in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2005, and on 10 March 2006 in the United States....
     (2004)
  • Jestem (2005)
  • A Cock and Bull Story
    A Cock and Bull Story

    'A Cock and Bull Story' is a 2006 in film United Kingdom comedy Film director by Michael Winterbottom. It is a Story within a story, featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves as egotistical actors during the making in a screen adaptation of Laurence Sterne's 18th century novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent...
     (2006) (original arrangement of George Frideric Handel
    George Frideric Handel

    George Frideric Handel was an England Baroque music composer of Germany birth who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerto grosso. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England....
    's "Sarabande"; re-used recordings from     The Draughtsman's Contract)
  • Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo (2007)
  • Never Forever
    Never Forever

    Never Forever is a 2007 in film US/Korean movie written and directed by Gina Kim, released worldwide in December 2007. The film was critically acclaimed when it was first screened on 18 January 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize at the Deauville Film Festival....
     (2007)
  • Man on Wire
    Man on Wire

    Man on Wire is a 2008 documentary film directed by James Marsh . The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center and is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, which has recently been released in paperback with the new title Man on Wire....
     (2008)


Nyman's music re-used

  • Nyman's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" (from The Piano) was used as backing music for one of the bank advertisements for Lloyds TSB
    Lloyds TSB

    In January 2009, Lloyds TSB Group changed its name to Lloyds Banking Group. This article is now about the brand Lloyds TSB which is still operated as part of the Lloyds Banking Group....
     broadcast on television. It has also been featured in episodes of     20/20
    20/20

    20/20 is an United States television newsmagazine broadcast on American Broadcasting Company since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the show was designed similarly to CBS's 60 Minutes but focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects....
    .
  • "Sheep & Tides" (from Drowning by Numbers) was featured in a commercial in which a woman smashes a man's car.
  • Music from Ravenous has been used at least once on WFYI's Across Indiana
    Across Indiana

    Across Indiana is a weekly 30 minute long documentary-style television program which covers places, people, history and culture across Indiana....
    , in a segment titled "On the Trail of John Hunt Morgan
    John Hunt Morgan

    John Hunt Morgan was a Confederate States Army General officer and cavalry officer in the American Civil War.Morgan is best known for Morgan's Raid in 1863, when he led 2,460 troops racing past Union Army lines into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio in July 1863....
    ", produced by Scott Andrew Hutchins.
  • Nyman's soundtrack for Carrington
    Carrington (film)

    Carrington is a film released in 1995 in film about the life of the England artist Dora Carrington, who was known simply as Carrington....
     is mostly based on his own String Quartet No. 3.
  • A Cock and Bull Story
    A Cock and Bull Story

    'A Cock and Bull Story' is a 2006 in film United Kingdom comedy Film director by Michael Winterbottom. It is a Story within a story, featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves as egotistical actors during the making in a screen adaptation of Laurence Sterne's 18th century novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent...
     contains music from The Draughtsman's Contract, as well as Nyman's arrangements of classical music used in Stanley Kubrick
    Stanley Kubrick

    Stanley Kubrick was an influential American-British filmmaker, screenwriter, Film producer and photographer. He directed a number of highly acclaimed and often controversial films....
    's     Barry Lyndon
    Barry Lyndon

    Barry Lyndon is a period film by Stanley Kubrick loosely based on the novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray. It recounts the exploits of unscrupulous 18th century Ireland adventurer Barry Lyndon, particularly his rise and fall in England society....
     (it does not use any music from Nyman's Tristram Shandy opera).
  • Nyman's music for Peter Greenaway's films has been used in the Japanese television program Iron Chef
    Iron Chef

    Iron Chef is a Japanese television program produced by Fuji Television. The original Japanese title is . The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cooking competition featuring accomplished guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredi...
    .
  • Popular "Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds
    Chasing Sheep Is Best Left to Shepherds

    Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds is a song from the soundtrack for The Draughtsman's Contract, written by Michael Nyman.There are different arrangements of this piece, one of which is broadcast on Classic FM TV, performed by the Michael Nyman Band, which was not the original arrangement for the film....
    " (from     The Draughtsman's Contract) constituted the main theme of Spanish TV program Queremos Saber, presented by Mercedes Milà in the nineties.
  • Nyman features in '9 Songs
    9 Songs

    9 Songs is a 2004 in film Great Britain film, Film director by Michael Winterbottom. The title refers to the nine songs played by eight different rock bands that complement the story of the film....
    ' (Michael Winterbottom, 2004) playing at the Hackney Empire on his 60th birthday.
  • Nyman's MGV: Musique à grande vitesse
    MGV (composition)

    MGV, or Musique ? Grand Vitesse - High-Speed Music is a 1993 musical composition by England composer Michael Nyman. It was commissioned by the Festival de Lille for the inauguration of the TGV North-European Paris-Lille line and was first performed by the Michael Nyman Band and the Orchestre national de Lille under Jean-Claude Casad...
     was used in November 2006 for a new 1-act ballet for the Royal Ballet in London, DGV (danse à grande vitesse) by Christopher Wheeldon.
  • Nyman's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" was covered by the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish
    Nightwish

    Nightwish is a Finns symphonic metal power metal band, formed in 1996 in Kitee, Finland. The band has sold more than 4 million CDs, DVDs and online material internationally....
    . Nyman refused it to be released.
  • Time Lapse was used in Sky's 2008 'Heroes' advert
  • Selections from Nyman's catalogue formed part of the soundtrack for James Marsh
    James Marsh

    James Marsh was a British chemist who invented the Marsh test for detecting arsenic....
    's 2008 documentary,     Man on Wire
    Man on Wire

    Man on Wire is a 2008 documentary film directed by James Marsh . The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center and is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, which has recently been released in paperback with the new title Man on Wire....
    , a film about Philippe Petit
    Philippe Petit

    Philippe Petit is a France tightrope walking who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the World Trade Center in New York, New York on August 7 1974....
    , a Frenchman, who in 1974 illegally strung a tightrope between the top of the WTC buildings and danced between them for 45 minutes, thus committing the "artistic crime of the 20th century".


Selected recordings

  • - MN Records 102
  • The Very Best of Michael Nyman: Film Music 1980-2001
    The Very Best of Michael Nyman: Film Music 1980-2001

    The Very Best of Michael Nyman: Film Music 1980-2001 is a compilation album of film music by Michael Nyman, including three previously unreleased tracks and one from the limited release, La Travers?e de Paris ....
     - Virgin EMI CDVED957
  • String Quartets 1-3 - Decca 4730912
  • Decay Music
    Decay Music

    'Decay Music' is the 1976 debut album by Michael Nyman, released on Brian Eno's Obscure Records music label. The two works on the album, 1-100 and Bell Set No....
     EMI CVE964 2004


Footnotes


External links

  • *


Listening