As one of Britain's most innovative and celebrated composers, Michael Nyman's work encompasses operas and string quartets, film soundtracks and orchestral concertos. Far more than merely a composer, he's also a performer, conductor, bandleader, pianist, author, musicologist and now a photographer and film-maker. His restless creativity and multi-faceted art has made him one of the most fascinating and influential cultural icons of our times.

Looking back on a lifetime of achievement that ranges from his award-winning score for the film The Piano to the acclaimed opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, via a string of high-profile collaborations with everyone from Sir Harrison Birtwistle to Damon Albarn, he's still looking forward - pushing the boundaries of his art with a diverse and prolific burst of creativity as energetic and challenging as any new and iconoclastic young kid on the block.

Nyman first made his mark on the musical world in the late 1960s, when he invented the term 'minimalism' and, still in his mid-twenties, earned one of his earliest commissions, to write the libretto for Birtwistle's 1969 opera Down By The Greenwood Side.

In 1976 he formed his own ensemble, the Campiello Band (now the Michael Nyman Band) and over three decades and more, the group has been the laboratory for much of his inventive and experimental compositional work.

For more than 30 years, he had also enjoyed a highly successful career as a film composer, the role in which - sometimes to his slightly rueful regret - he is probably best known by the general public.

His most notable scores number a dozen Peter Greenaway films, including such classics as The Draughtsman's Contract and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; Neil Jordan's The End Of The Affair; several Michael Winterbottom features including Wonderland and A Cock And Bull Story; the Hollywood blockbuster Gattaca - and, of course, his unforgettable music for Jane Campion's 1993 film, The Piano, the soundtrack album of which has sold more than three million copies. He also co-wrote the score for the 1999 film Ravenous with his friend and sometime protégé, Damon Albarn. Most recently his music was used in the 2009 BAFTA award winning and Oscar nominated film, Man on Wire.

He has also written widely for the stage. His operas include The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat (1986) and Facing Goya (2000) and he has provided ballet music for a number of the world's most distinguished choreographers.

In 2008, he published the sumptuous photo-book Sublime. His first gallery exhibition, Videofile, in which his photos are presented alongside a series of short films, was exhibited at the De la Warr Pavillion January to March 2009.

In October 2009, Nyman released The Glare, a collaborative collection of songs with David McAlmont, which cast his work in a new light. The album - recorded with the Michael Nyman Band - finds McAlmont putting lyrics based on contemporary news stories to 11 pieces of Nyman music drawn from different phases of his career.

Michael Nyman was born in London in 1944. He was awarded the CBE for services to British music in 2008 and has been recently honoured with the 2011 Ivor Novello Classical Music award.

If anyone doubts the mysterious power of music to take on a life of its own, they should type the title Music for a Found Harmonium into the iTunes library. More than 30 versions of this vivacious little melody, other than the original, are available by folk, country and bluegrass groups. Sometimes it is credited as ‘trad/anon’. And that’s before considering its appearances on television and in film – from Napoleon Dynamite to It’s All Gone Pete Tong via Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. Not bad for a tune that emerged without fanfare in 1984 on a small British record label.

In 2009 Arthur Jeffes, son of Simon Jeffes (founder of Penguin Cafe Orchestra) brought together a fresh group of musicians, ranging from luminaries from The Royal College of Music to members of bands such as Suede and Gorillaz to perform his father’s music, together with new compositions of his own. Their first engagement was an invitation from Teenage Cancer Trust (a charity with which the group is very involved) to film a performance in the Royal Albert Hall. This set down the group’s sometimes radical re-workings of the music of Simon Jeffes, while introducing Arthur as a composer in his own right.

2010 was spent preparing and producing the new Penguin Cafe's first official album A Matter Of Life…, which has just been released on the Penguin Cafe label.

Click to watch the video for 'Landau'

A Matter of Life... and three other Penguin Cafe albums are available to purchase from the Penguin Cafe web site, Amazon and ITunes

“Penguin Cafe continues to occupy a unique place in music: nothing else has ever sounded quite like it. Eccentric, charming, accommodating, surprising, seductive, warm, reliable, modest and unforgettable: it’s a true friend”  (Brian Eno)

The Classics Labels are a group of companies owned by performing musicians whose many years of experience in the music business gives them extensive knowledge of performers in different genres.

This London-based group consists of the full price labels Clarinet Classics, Saxophone Classics, Cello Classics, Brass Classics and Omnibus Classics as well as the mid price LIR Classics.

To hear a collection of tracks taken from the new releases across The Classics Labels visit the LMI Music Player.

Clarinet Classics and Saxophone Classics were founded in 1992 together by Victoria Soames Samek. The primary focus is to provide for clarinet and saxophone enthusiasts, performers and listeners alike. Clarinet and Saxophone Classics supply carefully chosen programmes that are both entertaining and informative, and the label continues to diversify, offering a range of superb performances recorded with care and skill.

Clarinet and Saxophone celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2012. Congratulations!

Cello Classics was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to releasing CDs of unexplored repertoire for the cello, played by some of the most exciting players of the past and the present and introducing some of the cellists of the future.

Brass Classics reflects the colourful and exotic world of the brass repertoire and its performers.

Presenting some of the finest artists, composers and arrangers, the Brass Classics mission is to offer a valuable contribution to the existing recorded and published collections, stimulating and inspiring musicians and music-lovers of all ages throughout the world.

Omnibus Classics have recently released a disc by Helen Reid. Helen first came to public attention when she reached the Keyboard finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year.

LIR Classics was launched to help the unrecorded artist release their first recording. Since their first disc they have released recordings by The Galeazzi Ensemble, Penelope Lynex, Mardi Brass Ensemble, Michele Benuzzi, The Bridge Duo and Elizabeth de la Porte to name a few.