210px|thumb|2006 photo by David GambleMichael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944, London) is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano. His operas include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs, Facing Goya, Man and Boy: Dada, and Love Counts, and he has written six concerti, four string quartets, and many other chamber works. Nyman has stated his preference for writing opera to other sorts of music.