# Anthony Hopkins Signed by Decca Classics; First Album of Music Composed by Oscar-Winning Actor Set for August Release

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/anthony-hopkins-signed-by-decca-classics-first-album-of-music-composed-by-oscar-winning-actor-set-for-august-release/
- Published: 2026-07-10T14:39:50+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-11T04:12:16+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/music/news/anthony-hopkins-decca-classics-life-is-a-dream-album-1236806236/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Music

## Summary

Anthony Hopkins, the Oscar-winning actor best known for "The Silence of the Lambs", has signed with Decca Classics for a recording project spanning more than six decades of his original musical compositions. His album, "Life Is a Dream", conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, is due for release on 21 August. The signing highlights a lifelong second career for Hopkins, who describes music as his "first desire" and has been composing since childhood.

The first single, "Bracken Road" — drawn from his "1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra" and inspired by childhood memories of Margam in South Wales — was released on Friday. Hopkins, 88, has played piano since the age of four, performing Beethoven and Chopin as a boy and composing for local plays as a teenager, and is a self-taught composer who won a Classic Brit Award in 2012 for "And the Waltz Goes On". Other pieces on the album include "My Fatherland", inspired by traditional Welsh melodies, alongside works reflecting cinema, his wife and his niece. The recording also features cellist Gregorio Nieto and pianist Sergio Tiempo, following Hopkins's live performance debut in Saudi Arabia in 2025.

## Coverage

- [Variety: Anthony Hopkins Signed by Decca Classics; First Album of Music Composed by Oscar-Winning Actor Set for August Release](https://variety.com/2026/music/news/anthony-hopkins-decca-classics-life-is-a-dream-album-1236806236/)
- [Rolling Stone: Anthony Hopkins to Release Album of Original Compositions](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/anthony-hopkins-original-compositions-album-decca-classics-1235591844/)
- [Far Out: Anthony Hopkins to release his first album: u201cMusic was my first desireu201d](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/anthony-hopkins-release-first-album-music-first-desire/)

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