The Piano film composer Michael Nyman helps Belsize Park arts college raise £30,000
Concert pianist Michael Nyman performs at Wac Arts college - Credit: Archant
Film composer Michael Nyman helped a college raise more than £30,000 to help it run an arts programme for disadvantaged young people with a fundraising concert.
The musician behind films including The Piano played some of his most famous movie tracks at Wac Arts in Belsize Park last month on the Yahama Grand piano on which he had composed them, which he has now donated to the Haverstock Hill college.
The evening had aimed to raise £20,000 but this week, Wac Arts discovered they had exceeded that total by £10,000.
It will enable the college to keep running its threatened junior weekend arts programme for vulnerable five to 14-year-olds.
Mr Nyman, who got married at the Old Hampstead Town Hall where the college is now based, said: “Wac Arts is an institution that has produced a stream of actors and writers of high quality, familiar to all of us. I was introduced to the music department and it seemed a no-brainer to donate my Yamaha Grand.”
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Mr Nyman also performed alongside jazz star Julian Joseph, an alumnus of Wac Arts.
Celia Greenwood, Wac Arts Founder and CEO, said: “£30,000 will pay for 300 young people to enjoy at least two terms of Junior Wac Arts.
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“The programme offers the opportunity for young people to take a music lesson, which can be life changing for those who want to learn an instrument but have not had the financial capacity to do so.”
