Boasting a career that has spanned more than two decades, it was the bushy suburb of East Lindfield where Westlake first found his musical spark.

The son of two virtuoso players who were members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, it was no surprise when a 10-year-old Nigel started displaying musical ambitions.

“The house was always full of music and my parents were always dragging me along to concerts in the Town Hall and later at the Opera House,” he said.

“I always thought music would be how my life panned out because I would go and hear my father play and I thought that was about the coolest thing you could ever do.”

The Westlake family moved from Perth when Nigel was one — to East Lindfield. Having already identified music was where his future was heading, his time at East Lindfield Public School did not exactly assist in furthering those endeavours.

“It was a standard public school back then and there wasn’t a lot of musical opportunities in those days,” Westlake said.

“There was a school choir but I actually got thrown out of it because I failed a maths test — I never quite understood that logic.”

With his father Donald being the principal clarinet player for the SSO and his mother Heather Summer playing the violin alongside musical acts such as Genesis and Phil Collins, many expected Westlake to follow in their footsteps and pursue an orchestral career.

While he did work professionally as a clarinetist for a while he quickly turned his focus to composition.

“I started writing music in my early teens, just sort of mucking around, never thinking it would lead to anything,” Westlake said.

“I certainly didn’t aspire to be a composer or anything and then, bit by bit, it just gained momentum and I started getting invitations to write music for theatre and circus, initially.”

After working on various television series and smaller films, Westlake received his first break in 1991.

“The first big score I did was for an IMAX film called Antarctica and that was a big break for me. I had done a few documentaries leading up to that but that was a very exciting project,” he said.

“I was working with this wonderful director, John Weiley. It was the turning point when I thought maybe this could work as a full-time career.”

Four years later and the defining moment of Westlake’s career would come in the unexpected form of a movie about a farmyard pig. Directed by Chris Noonan and produced by George Miller, Babe would go on to become a hit around the globe.

Still in the early stages of his composing career, it also served as the career-defining moment for the then 27-year-old Westlake.

“Babe was an interesting series of events because a film score had already been written by veteran Hollywood composer Jerry Goldsmith. And he was asked to make quite a few changes and he refused,” he said.

“Then in 1995 I was one of six to audition to write the new score for the film and, when I got offered that job, composing definitely became a full-time thing.”

After initially being sent home with three scenes to review, Westlake said he immediately fell in love with the quirky nature of the film and recalls not sleeping for a week as inspiration struck.

The finished product would go on to gross $254  million worldwide and receive seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Despite the commercial and critical acclaim, Westlake said that during production there was doubt the film would ever reach an audience.

“When we were making the film we had no idea what was going to happen to it,” he said. “We didn’t even think it was going to get beyond the back shelf of the video store.

“For it to catapult to number one in the first week was extraordinary and it was a big break for me and meant a lot more film scores were offered to me.”

In the years that followed Westlake received steady work, composing scores for Australian and American productions, including the sequel, Babe: Pig In The City.

Eventually the composer felt the strong pull of Hollywood, making the trip to Tinseltown to meet prospective agents.

The only problem was his wife Jan did not see the allure of La-La Land as so many artistic hopefuls.

“She didn’t like it at all and she said if I moved there I would be on my own,” he said. “It wasn’t a difficult decision. I didn’t feel the need to move to America and I have been lucky to work with some incredible people here in Australia and I have never been short of work.”

The introduction of synthesised orchestras has meant the traditional orchestra is used less frequently in film scores. This has had an impact on the careers of many composers, meaning in recent years Westlake has turned his attention away from film.

“In the past 10 years the demand for orchestral film scores has gone down a bit, so I don’t work quite as much in that genre,” he said.

“I have some stuff lined up for next year but I am focusing more these days on concert commissions and working with the Australian String Quartet and Sydney Symphony.”

The father of two has passed on his love of music to the third generation, with his son Joel displaying a passion for rap.

In 2008 Westlake’s youngest son Eli was killed in a road-rage incident, just a few weeks before his 22nd birthday. Westlake composed a symphony in honour of his son, which premiered at the Myer Music Bowl in 2011.

Despite now living at Ultimo, the 59-year-old still has a large affinity with the north shore through his work with the Willoughby Symphony.

In a full circle-type moment, Westlake is now having his music performed by an orchestra where his musical journey began.

“There is a very active arts scene on the north shore and it is great to see the Willoughby Symphony has come such a long way over the last 30 years in terms of standard,” he said.

“Being the artist in residence at Willoughby Symphony has been great and has given me the opportunity to work closely with the orchestra. It was great to hear my work performed back to me.”

Westlake will return to the Concourse on Sunday, to perform a live screening of Babe with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra. The much-loved film is the gift that keeps on giving and has presented the composer with opportunities across the globe. After already performing the show at the Opera House, in Melbourne and Dublin, Westlake got to live out a dream moment when he performed with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Centre in New York.

“Performing it at the Lincoln Centre was one of those pinch yourself moments, because you never think you are going to be conducting the New York Philharmonic.

“I just received an email out of the blue asking if I was free in December and it was just a great experience performing two sellout shows.”

Babe in Symphony will be held at the Concourse on Sunday September 2.