{"id":1835,"date":"2026-08-12T04:23:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1835"},"modified":"2026-08-12T04:23:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:23:02","slug":"sir-anthony-hopkins-on-his-debut-album-my-first-love-is-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1835","title":{"rendered":"Sir Anthony Hopkins on his debut album: \u2018My first love is music\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Hopkins arrives at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong, File)<\/small><\/p>\n

2026-08-12T04:02:34Z<\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 It may be hard to believe, but even Sir Anthony Hopkins<\/a><\/span> doubts himself sometimes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a part of me which says, \u2018you didn\u2019t write that,\u2019\u201d he recalls of composing his debut album, \u201cLife Is a Dream.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s it called? Impostor syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, it did not stop him from finishing the collection of 12 compositions he crafted over six decades.<\/p>\n

Conducted by Gustavo Dudamel<\/a><\/span>, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and recorded at London\u2019s Alexandra Palace in April, it will be released by Decca Records on Aug. 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first love, or vocation really, is music,\u201d said the 88-year-old actor. \u201cThat sounds very official, but I was raised with a lot of music (of the) postwar years, and it influenced me. And I started playing the piano when I was quite young.\u201d <\/p>\n

He picked up the instrument at 4 and began composing years later, writing his first piece, a waltz, in 1960. He was 22 at the time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI find more freedom with music,\u201d he says, compared to acting, which he labels \u201ca discipline, you have to know your stuff. But music for me is a freewheeling kind of art form.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s had his fair share of experience. Prior to the release of \u201cLife Is a Dream,\u201d Hopkins had composed scores for a number of films. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe opening of \u2018Shadowlands\u2019 is my first adventure in composing music,\u201d he said, referring to the 1993 film he starred in as \u201cThe Chronicles of Narnia\u201d author C.S. Lewis. Then he became the principal composer on a few other movies that he also starred in and directed, including 1996\u2019s \u201cAugust\u201d and 2007\u2019s \u201cSlipstream.\u201d 2020\u2019s \u201cElyse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopkins\u2019 childhood informed \u201cLife Is A Dream\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about my childhood,\u201d he says of the album, which shares its title with the Pedro Calder\u00f3n de la Barca play. \u201cIt\u2019s basically the memories of my childhood and growing up in Wales, and my developments in life, my adolescent years,\u201d and so on. <\/p>\n

But he says \u201cthere\u2019s a great sadness in it all because \u2014 don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019ve had a wonderful life \u2014 but underneath it all, there is the knowledge that life is one long goodbye. From the moment we\u2019re born, we begin to die,\u201d he starts to laugh. \u201cSounds so cheerful!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n