Antony Hopkins CBE (born Ernest William Antony Reynolds; 21 March 1921 – 6 May 2014) was an English composer, pianist and conductor, as well as a writer and radio broadcaster.

Hopkins was born in London as Ernest William Antony Reynolds. His surname was changed to Hopkins after he was adopted by a master at Berkhamsted School following the death of his father. 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).

Hopkins wrote extensively for films, including Here Come the Huggetts (1948), The Pickwick Papers (1952), Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), and Billy Budd (1962).

In the 1970s, he revived the long forgotten oratorio Ruth (infamous as 'the Worst Oratorio in the World') by the English composer George Tolhurst; this was heard again in 2009 on the BBC Radio 3 programme The Choir. He may have been best-known for his books of musical analysis and for his radio programmes Talking About Music, broadcast for many years by the BBC. From 1952 to 1964 he was Artistic Director of the Intimate Opera Company.

Personal life

Hopkins was appointed a CBE in 1976 for his services to music. He died on 6 May 2014.

Books

• Beating Time
• Downbeat Music Guide
• Music all Around Me
• Musicamusings
• Music Face to Face (with André Previn)
• Pathway to Music
• Sounds of the Orchestra: A Study of Orchestral Texture
• Talking About Concertos
• Talking About Sonatas
• Talking About Symphonies
• The Dent Concertgoer's Companion
• The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven
• The Seven Concertos of Beethoven
• Understanding Music