The composer and broadcaster Michael Berkeley began his musical career as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After private studies with Richard Rodney Bennett he became a rock musician, and then joined the BBC as a Radio 3 announcer.

Since 1980 he has combined a successful freelance broadcasting career, presenting many programmes on radio and television, with his primary career as a composer, following in the footsteps of his father Sir Lennox Berkeley.

His works include the operas Baa Baa Black Sheep (1993), after Kipling, and Jane Eyre (2000), after Charlotte Bronte, both with libretti by the Australian writer David Malouf and `For You’ (2008), with a libretto by Ian McEwan, with whom he first collaborated on the oratorio `Or Shall We Die’ (1993); orchestral works including Secret Garden, The Garden of Earthly Delights (both 1998) and Concerto for Orchestra (2005), works for chamber orchestra including Fantasia Concertante (1978), The Romance of the Rose (1982) and Entertaining Master Punch (1991); concertos for oboe, cello, horn, organ, clarinet, and viola; and many chamber and vocal works.

Michael was the Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Festival from 1995 to 2004 and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Opera House from 1996 to 2003.

Michael is married to the literary agent Deborah Rogers, and they have a daughter, Jessica. He often escapes from his London home (where Private Passions is recorded) to the seclusion of his Welsh farm.