British composer chooses Valladolid for world premiere of his latest work

Michael Nyman
(www.uimp.es)

VALLADOLID Michael Nyman, 69, the British composer and musician probably best known for the music for Jane Campion's award-winning movie 'The Piano', recently presented the world premiere of his Symphony Number 5 at the Miguel Delibes Cultural Centre in Valladolid. Under the direction of Jaime Martín and with piano soloist Iván Martín, the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra offered a programme that also included the Spanish premiere of Nyman´s Piano Concerto Nº2, as well as a piece that launched Nyman's into film music, The Draughstman's Contract (1982). All these pieces were recorded earlier in the week under the supervision of the composer himself.>>>In an interview with a local paper, Nyman said that he was 'very comfortably off' thanks to The Piano, which has allowed him to spend more time composing for concerts than for films. He added that, considering his last film composition for seven years, he is surprised that he is still better known as a composer of sound tracks, even though he has done so for the theatre, the opera, the dance and even for fashion shows.

Michael Nyman, born at Stratford in 1944, announced not long ago that he was aiming at composing a dozen symphonies by his 70th birthday on March 23, 2014.