Antony Hopkins CBE (born 21 March 1921) is an English composer, pianist, conductor, and radio broadcaster.
Hopkins was born in London under the name Ernest William Antony Reynolds; his surname was changed during his childhood to Hopkins. His works include the operas Lady Rohesia (1947) (based on the Ingoldsby Legends of sixteenth-century England), The Man from Tuscany, and Three's Company (1953); the ballet Café des Sports; and Scena for soprano and strings (which was later arranged for three solo voices and full orchestra).[1]
Hopkins has written extensively for films, including Here Come the Huggetts (1948), The Pickwick Papers (1952), Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), and Billy Budd (1962).[2]. In the 1970s, he revived the long forgotten oratorio Ruth (infamous as 'the Worst Oratorio in the World') by English composer George Tolhurst; this was heard again in 2009 on BBC Radio 3 programme "The Choir".
However, he is perhaps best-known for his books of musical analysis and, particularly, for his radio programmes Talking About Music broadcast for many years by the BBC.
Antony Hopkins was appointed a CBE in 1976.