The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham will be showing Michael's portrait of Sir John Tavener as part of a collection of portraits of 20th century composers. The exhibition, a joint project with the National Portrait Gallery titled "Facing the Music", will be formally opened by Michael on 24th May and will run from 25th May- 27th August 2012.

The exhibition also includes among others portraits of Holst, Elgar, Tippett, Walton, Adès, and Birtwistle. It is being co-curated by University of Birmingham postgraduate students: Emily Cotterill, Qian Gao, Oliver McCall, Imogen Wiltshire and Sophie Rycroft under the head of collections and learning Robert Wenley.

Described by the Observer as "one of the finest small art galleries in Europe” the Barber Institute houses works by Monet, Manet, and Magritte; Renoir, Rubens, Rossetti and Rodin; Degas, Delacroix and van Dyck — not to mention Botticelli, Poussin, Turner, Gainsborough, Gauguin, van Gogh, Picasso, Hodgkin and more. The Barber is also home to the University of Birmingham's departments of History of Art and Music, as well as the Barber Fine Art and Music libraries.