CHOPIN CENTRE

sending them to orchestras and other composers. At least composers write back and give you advice.”

But the musical establishment is nervous about a security guard whose highest paper qualification is Higher music.

He said: “A lot of people think someone who does this type of writing needs an academic level that I don’t have. I go through all these hurdles then don’t get accepted. It’s depressing and demoralising. Months and months, maybe years’ worth of work, hours of music just thrown on the fire.”

MacMillan – and other composers Michael has met through The Cumnock Tryst – have persuaded him to keep his old scores. They also point out the towering figures of the past who were not appreciated in their lifetimes.

He said: “Throughout history, there have been composers who didn’t get established until they were dead. It’s one of those philosophical things – maybe your audience is a distant one in the future. Beethoven talked about that, writing for the next generation.”

Now that two of his pieces have been played by a professional orchestra, Michael hopes to have more work commissioned.

Like MacMillan – who writes everything from full-scale symphonies to pieces for his church choir in Glasgow – Michael is ready to try anything.

He has an hour-long chamber opera that he hopes to finish by the end of the year. Then there’s a back catalogue that includes a piano prelude for performer with no piano and a Dadaist ritual with a percussion solo. He also writes folk tunes – there’s a book of 50 of them available to download online.

Even if the Met and La Scala do not come knocking, Michael will not stop composing. He said: “I write every day. It’s the creative process I love. Even if I never get another commission again, I’m not going to stop writing.”