Paul Griffiths, of Manorbier, has received a Grammy nomination for 2010 in the opera category, along with Chinese-American composer Tan Dun who also conducted, for the new DVD recording of their opera 'Marco Polo', released on the Opus Arte label.

The announcement was made in Los Angeles on December 2. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, also in Los Angeles, on January 31.

In the early 1990s, the composer read Paul's 'Myself and Marco Polo' (which won a Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first novel) and asked him to create a libretto drawn from the book.

The piece had its world premiere at the Munich Biennale in 1996, its United States premiere at New York City Opera in 1997, and won Tan the Grawemeyer Award in 1998.

After receiving the Grawemeyer - at that time the most valuable cash prize in the world for composition, Tan told a press conference: "I owe it all to Paul Griffiths."

Since then, Tan's compositions have included, among other works, several scores for Hollywood, including his Academy award-winning sound track for the Ang Lee film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'

The Pro Arte recording is of a new production which had its premiere last year with the Netherlands Opera. The original production was recorded by Sony.

The novel 'Myself and Marco Polo' was originally published in 1989 by Chatto and Windus (Britain) and Random House (United States) in hardback followed by a paperback in 1990 from Picador. It was reissued by Faber and Faber in autumn 2008 as part of the 'Faber Finds' series.

More information about Paul Griffiths's books, operas and other works can be found in his Wikipedia entry or website, www disgwylfa com.