At 88, Hopkins’ musical dream comes true

At 88, Sir Anthony Hopkins is realizing a lifelong musical dream with the release of his debut album, "Life Is A Dream." The collection features 12 compositions crafted over six decades, showcasing the acclaimed actor's deep connection to music, which he describes as his "first love, or vocation really."

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There’s a part of me which says, ‘you didn’t write that.’ What’s it called? Impostor syndrome.

Recorded at London's Alexandra Palace with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, the album is set for release on August 21 by Decca Records. Hopkins, who began playing the piano at age 4 and composing in his early twenties, finds music to be a more liberating art form than acting. "I find more freedom with music," he says, contrasting it with acting, which he labels "a discipline."

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My first love, or vocation really, is music.

The album's title track shares its name with a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca and delves into Hopkins' childhood memories and adolescent years growing up in Wales. Despite acknowledging a "wonderful life," Hopkins reflects on the inherent sadness of existence, stating, "From the moment we're born, we begin to die." This tension between life's joys and its inevitable end permeates the release.

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I find more freedom with music. That 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.

One of the album's singles, "1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra: ll. Bracken Road," is part of a three-part suite evoking a summer in South Wales. Hopkins describes it as containing "melancholy and sadness," a "welcomed sound of nostalgia, of the strange, whimsical pain of life." He posits that "All music is actually based in pain. It's about the yearning." Similarly, "Stella Aria," named after his wife Stella Hopkins, explores "the loneliness in all of us" as part of a path toward happiness.

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It’s about my childhood. It’s basically the memories of my childhood and growing up in Wales, and my developments in life, my adolescent years, and so on.