Stewart Copeland, founder of one of the all-time great bands, The Police, will be in Brighton to showcase several other aspects of his career.

As a soundtrack composer, he has been busy since the Eighties writing scores for classics such as Oliver Stone's Wall Street, Francis Ford Coppola's Rumblefish and recent hits such as She's All That.

His Police time will see him in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame before long and he has picked up the Hollywood Film Festival's first Visionary award.

He appears right at home with movies. A prolific and original writer, he is aware some lesser talents have occasionally pinched their tunes from the classical repertoire.

"Some don't think about leaving behind anything with any meaning, though they're careful to use stuff in the public domain.

"When the director says he wants something memorable, he means something he remembers - he doesn't care if it's something by Prokofiev.

"Although I've got a 'bran tub' of bits I've written before, I've always found it more work to adapt an earlier piece. It's quicker to write something new.

"The picture gets the musical wheels turning for me. It's harder to write, say, a symphony with just a blank page. It's what got me into orchestras."

He has composed for the ballet and opera, including a Channel 4 commission, and has a foot in the rock arena with his trio Oysterhead, alongside members of Phish and Primus. He has even had a call from a certain Sixties band.

"I've been invited to play with The Doors. They're headlining some festival. Unfortunately, their drummer's got tinnitus so this little whippersnapper's standing in for him."

The Brighton gig features Earthworks, led by drummer Bill Bruford whose own rock career includes "prog" legends Yes and King Crimson.

His band includes international star saxophonist Tim Garland.

Copeland says: "Bill and I may meet on stage for a 'drum duo' though that may depend on the set-up - I'm borrowing his sax player, though.

"There's a 20-piece orchestra, with the Matrix Ensemble and Ensemble Bash. It's all arranged so I can just plonk the charts down in front of them.

"Tim's reading some parts but, when he's not, I've told him to blast away.

"He's a great player. It's good to have that extra something. He and I will be the only ones improvising."

Tickets cost £10, £15 and £18 and the performance starts at 8pm. To book or for more information, call the Dome box office on 01273 709709.