Amistad fans rejoice! Next month, Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman, lead actors from Steven Spielberg's 1997 historical drama, will release their own individual projects on Decca. It was announced today that Sir Anthony Hopkins signed to Decca Classics as a composer and will release his musical project Life Is A Dream, performed by Grammy Award-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Philharmonia Orchestra, on August 21.
This announcement comes a month after Freeman announced his 12-song collection Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience, out August 7. It was announced on Juneteenth with the first single "Death Letter Blues." Freeman narrated and produced the project that features blues innovators Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, and Shemekia Copeland. The album also features regular players from Ground Zero Blues Club, a venue that Freeman opened 25 years ago in Clarksdale. (Freeman previously hosted 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's 2020 mixtape Savage Mode II.)
“I heard the blues for the first time on my grandmother’s porch in the Mississippi Delta, and it has never left me," Freeman shared in a press release. "Having Taj Mahal kick off this album with a cover of Son House's classic ‘Death Letter Blues’ strikes the perfect tone for the introduction of this album."
Hopkin's project is also a decade-spanning work. It's inspired by "by Hopkins’ family, Wales, and a lifetime of experience." His first single "Bracken Road" from Hopkins' 1947: Suite for Solo Piano and Orchestra, is out today.
"Music was my first desire, my first wish," Hopkins said. "I've been composing music all my life. Some of these pieces have lived with me for decades and I still find myself returning to them."
There seems to be some sort of cosmic string between Hopkins and Freeman. Aside from starring in Amistad together, the Oscar-winning actors were also born six months apart in 1937.
Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience is out 8/7 and Life Is A Dream is out 8/21 via Decca.
