\n The single, \u201cBracken Road,\u201d comes from \u201ca selection of orchestral works written across more than six decades\u201d that will be released as part of the \u201cLife is a Dream\u201d album, according to a statement from record company Decca Classics published Friday.\n <\/p>\n
\n Hopkins has had a long and storied career as an actor, winning a raft of awards for roles such as serial killer Hannibal Lecter in \u201cThe Silence of the Lambs\u201d (1991) and repressed butler Stevens in \u201cThe Remains of the Day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But he also started playing the piano at age 4.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMusic was my first desire, my first wish,\u201d Hopkins said in the statement.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Hopkins,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-anthonyhopkins-credit-charlie-gray.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ve been composing music all my life. Some of these pieces have lived with me for decades and I still find myself returning to them,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n
\n Hopkins started improvising on the piano at age 6, and by the time he was a teenager he was composing music for local plays, according to the statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n He continued to compose music even when his acting career took off in earnest, and the project features works from throughout his life.\n <\/p>\n
\n And music appears to have helped him through some difficult times: During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Hopkins posted a video of himself playing the piano to his cat, Niblo, on Twitter.\n <\/p>\n
\n The album is performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Grammy Award-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and was recorded at Alexandra Palace, London, in April.\n <\/p>\n
\n It is \u201cinspired by Hopkins\u2019 family, Wales and a lifetime of experience,\u201d according to the statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dudamel said that Hopkins \u201cis one of those rare artists whose creative voice transcends any single medium.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe same depth of imagination, humanity, and emotional truth that has defined his extraordinary work on stage and screen is present in his music,\u201d he added in the statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnthony approaches music with the heart of a storyteller and the instincts of a poet, creating sound worlds that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cLife is a Dream\u201d will be released August 21.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 It\u2019s never too late to follow your dream. At age 88, two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-754965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}