b. 23 March 1944, London, England. A highly acclaimed composer, pianist, orchestra leader, and author, Nyman studied at the London Academy of Music (of which he is a Fellow) and at King's College, London. He subsequently worked as a music critic before founding the Campiello Band (later renamed the Michael Nyman Band) in 1977. To the public at large, Nyman is probably best known for his music to Jane Campion's award-winning 1993 movie The Piano, and for several "propulsively pounding" scores he composed for the idiosyncratic director and screenwriter, Peter Greenaway. Most notable among these are The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), A Zed & Two Noughts (1985), Drowning By Numbers (1988), The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), and Prospero's Books (1991). The two men parted after Nyman discovered that his original score for Prospero's Books had been overlaid with what he called "awful phoney electronic music".
Nyman's film music is just a part of a prolific and extremely varied output that has comprised several operas (including The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat), string quartets, a saxophone concerto ("Where The Bee Dances"), the libretto for Harrison Birtwhistle's dramatic pastoral, Down By The Greenwoodside, other classical works, and numerous commissions. He also collaborated on the Channel 4 film, The Final Score, in which he paid tribute to the game of football, and in particular to his own favourite club, Queens Park Rangers. Nyman's score for The Piano received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Music, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and won the first-ever Chicago Film Critics Award for Best Musical Score. Although the movie was nominated for eight Oscars, Nyman's brilliant score was ignored. In 1995, London's South Bank Centre presented a celebratory festival, Nyman On The South Bank, which opened with an all-night showing of a number of films associated with him. It continued with performances by his various ensembles, which "showed off the grandeur of Nyman's orchestral writing, the amplified power of the Michael Nyman Big Band, and the intimate delights of his chamber music". Among the works performed at the festival were premieres of "The Upside-Down Violin", with the Orquesta Andalusi de Tetuan from Morocco, Nyman's score for Carrington, as well as his "Harpsichord Concerto" with Elisabeth Chojnacka, and "Six Celan Songs", sung by Hilary Summers.
Nyman's work in the late 90s included highly acclaimed scores for Gattaca (1998) and Wonderland (1999), and a collaboration with Blur singer Damon Albarn for the soundtrack to Ravenous. His music, which effortlessly spans the pop/classical divide, has attracted great attention from concert goers and critics alike, making him a unique figure in UK contemporary music.
