The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play, Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic. The band did not wish to break up after the production ended, so its director, Michael Nyman, began composing music for the group to perform, beginning with "In Re Don Giovanni", written in 1977. Originally made up of old instruments such as rebecs, sackbuts and shawms alongside more modern instruments like the banjo and saxophone in order to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it later switched to a fully amplified lineup of string quartet, double bass, clarinet, three saxophones, horn, trumpet, bass trombone, bass guitar, and piano. This line up has been variously altered and augmented for some works.

The band's first recorded album on a professional label was Nyman's second, the self-titled Michael Nyman (1981), which mostly comprised pieces written for the early films of Peter Greenaway. This album has yet to be released on compact disc. Another self-titled album (1995) has appeared as a promotional item compiling tracks from various other albums, and should not be confused with this one.

Their 1992 album, The Essential Michael Nyman Band, may appear to be a greatest hits compilation, but is actually comprised of the concert versions of various film pieces, having undergone years of revisions and refinement, are significantly different from their soundtrack counterparts, to a far more severe extent than typical differences between classical music performances. This album also contains two cuts from the film score to A Zed & Two Noughts, which was originally performed by an orchestra of musicians who were never members of the band, with solos by band members Nyman, Balanescu, Perry, and Leonard. Similarly, The Piano was performed by members of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Harle, Roach, Findon, and Nyman, but is also part of the band's repertoire.

Is One Of The Main Singers

Ute Lemper (born July 4, 1963) is a German chanteuse and actress. Born in Münster, she graduated from the Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna.
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