Michael Nyman to be Honoured at Film Music Festival

Not only did he master minimal music, he coined the phrase

One of the masters of minimalist music, British composer Michael Nyman will be celebrated with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) in October. He will notably feature at a special concert, Minimalism in Motion: Glass, Nyman and Beyond that will wrap up the Film Fest Gent's Film Music Days 2025 and the 25th World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent, Belgium.

Nyman is best known to film audiences for his scores for The Piano, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Gattaca. He will be honoured on 16 October 2025 at Music Centre De Bijloke by the Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Dirk Brossé, who will perform a selection of Nyman's work.

Nyman first coined the term “minimal music”

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 at King's College, London. He coined the term 'minimal music' in 1968 while working as a music critic for The Spectator.

Nyman's first major success came with the movie The Draughtsman's Contract (1982). Later, his score for Jane Campion's The Piano in 1993 sold over three million copies worldwide, going platinum, and earning nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

WSA Film Music Days 2025 will be held in Belgium from 14 - 16 October 2025, during Film Fest Gent (8 - 19 October). The World Soundtrack Awards take place on 15 October. Tickets for both events are now available.

(Michael Leahy. Source: WSA. Photo: picture alliance / Pacific Press | Alessandro Bosio)