Goldie goes classical for BBC Proms

He made his name as a drum 'n' bass DJ and graffiti artist but now Goldie is scheduled to debut his classical composing talents at the 2009 BBC Proms.

Goldie - real name Clifford Price, whose nickname comes from the array of gold caps on his teeth - was a surprise success story in last year's BBC television series Maestro which gave celebrities the chance to conduct a BBC orchestra. Now, having been coached by classical composer Anna Meredith, Goldie will hear his work performed by the BBC concert orchestra as part of Evolution, a Charles Darwin-inspired Prom for children.

Roger Wright, director of the BBC Proms, which start on July 17, has said that Goldie's piece will only be a very short segment of the whole festival and that the 43-year-old had struggled to make the transition to classical music. "He's a great creative musician," said Wright, "but the idea was to ask him to learn to write for acoustic instruments which was a real challenge for him."

According to Goldie himself, he was inspired to start listening to classical music while in a relationship with the singer Bjork. "We were in Iceland together one Christmas Eve, looking out of a window at boats in the harbour, with three or four feet of snow. And she put on [Henryk] Górecki and it was just brilliant, beautiful, touching," Goldie told the Daily Telegraph last year. "This was music that summed up real life. And so it changed the way I thought about classical music."

Goldie hasn't yet forgotten his roots in visual art: he has an exhibition, 'The Kids are All Riot', scheduled to open at the Maverik Showroom in Shoreditch on Friday.  ·