Michael Nyman to receive WSA Lifetime Achievement Award

With a distinguished career as a composer, librettist, critic, and musicologist, Nyman is best known to film audiences for his unforgettable scores for The Piano, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Gattaca.

Michael Nyman will be honoured on 16 October 2025 at Music Centre De Bijloke in Ghent at the film music concert Minimalism in Motion: Glass, Nyman and Beyond - a celebration of the evolution of minimalist film music, spotlighting pioneers such as Nyman and Glass, alongside contemporary composers who are redefining minimalism for a new era. During the concert, Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by maestro Dirk Brossé, will perform a selection of Nyman's work.

Nyman is no stranger to Film Fest Gent. In 1991, he performed the world premiere of his score for Prospero's Books. Later, in 2015, his work was featured at the festival's Great British Film Music Concert, showcasing music from his collaborations with Peter Greenaway on Drowning by Numbers (1988) and The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), as well as his score for Neil Jordan's The End of the Affair (1999).

From critic to composer

Nyman was born in Stratford, East London in 1944. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1961 to 1964, and was a PhD student between 1964 and 1967 at King's College, London under Thurston Dart, where he studied piano and English baroque music. During that period, Nyman secured a residency in Romania as an exchange student, to research Romanian folk music. His early encounters there with baroque and folk would influence his later scoring work especially in his collaborations with Peter Greenaway.

In his first years after graduating, Nyman didn't start composing immediately, as he went into the field of criticism and musicology. In 1968, whilst working as a music critic for The Spectator, he 'accidentally' coined the term 'minimal music', when a musical piece by a relatively unknown Danish composer reminded him of minimal art. Minimalism at the time was already known as a movement in the visual arts, but not yet in music. He claims it was a quick throwaway reference, but minimalist music rapidly developed as a new musical movement. In the following decade, he influenced a certain school of thought in contemporary music.

Platinum success

After his years as a critic, Nyman became a very prolific composer for orchestra and opera - his preferred field of work - but over the past decades, he has also built an impressive catalogue of film scores. His first works of notice came when he met filmmaker Peter Greenaway, who would become a frequent collaborator. The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) was the first success from this partnership. Other collaborations with Greenaway include A Zed and Two Noughts (1985), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) and Prospero's Books (1991). The score for The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover in particular caught attention, being noticed for its mix of baroque elements and romantic chamber music for strings and piano.

A gigantic breakthrough came with the score for Jane Campion's The Piano in 1993. Nyman strayed away from the typical baroque sound he used in the Greenaway films, and leaned more into a minimalist focus on the piano. The score became an enormous success, selling over three million copies worldwide, going platinum, and earning nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. It is regarded as one of the most iconic scores of all time, with Nyman's voice serving as an essential part of the story, since Oscar winner Holly Hunter's character Ada is not able to talk and therefore has to communicate through Nyman's piano compositions.

More than just minimalism

Nyman is a key figure in minimalism and its development, but merely characterising him that way wouldn't capture the richness of his oeuvre. His education in baroque music and his interest in incorporating musical elements from the 17th and 18th century into a more modern context, made him a unique figure in the group of minimalists he is so often associated with. Even The Piano's best-known piece - The Heart Asks Pleasure First - although classical and minimal on the surface, reappropriates the melody from a popular Scottish folk song from 1808, Gloomy Winter's Noo Awa. Like no other, Nyman knows how to combine sounds from different genres and eras. Welsh composer and musicologist Pwyll ap Siôn describes this combination of sounds best in a piece for Wise Music Classical, honouring Nyman for his 80th birthday in 2024: "Nyman composes with his ears to the past, and his eyes to the future."

WSA Film Music Days 2025

This year's WSA Film Music Days will be held from 14 - 16 October 2025, during Film Fest Gent (8 - 19 October). The film music concert Minimalism in Motion: Glass, Nyman and Beyond is the closing event on 16 October. The World Soundtrack Awards 2025 take place on 15 October. Tickets for both events are now available.