Howard Shore
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| Howard Shore | |
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| Born | Howard Leslie Shore October 18, 1943 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Years active | 1978-Present |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Cotnoir (1990-Present) |
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is an Oscar-, Golden Globe- and Grammy Award-winning Canadian composer, best known for composing the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the score for The Silence of the Lambs, and for the films of David Cronenberg. He is also a prolific composer of concert works, and is currently writing his first opera, The Fly, based on the plot (though not the score) of Cronenberg's 1986 film.[1] He is the uncle of composer Ryan Shore.[2]
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[edit] Early career
He was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Canada, and studied music at the after graduating for Forest Hill Collegiate Institute Berklee College of Music in Boston. From 1969 to 1972, he performed with the group Lighthouse. In 1970 he was the music director of Lorne Michaels' short-lived TV program "The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour". Shore wrote the music for Canadian magician Doug Henning's magical/musical "Spellbound" in 1974, and he was the musical director for Lorne Michaels' hugely influential late-night NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980, appearing in many musical sketches, including Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band, and dressed as a beekeeper for a John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd performance of the Slim Harpo classic "I'm a King Bee". Shore also suggested the name for the Blues Brothers to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
[edit] Successes
Shore has written the music for such various major film productions as The Silence of the Lambs, Mrs. Doubtfire, Philadelphia, Ed Wood, Se7en, Dogma, High Fidelity, Panic Room, The Departed and The Aviator, the last of which earned him a Golden Globe. Since The Brood in 1979, he has been a consistent collaborator with David Cronenberg, scoring all his subsequent films except The Dead Zone (1983, scored by Michael Kamen). His score for Cronenberg's Naked Lunch is notable for his collaboration with famed avant-garde jazz musician Ornette Coleman, who praised Shore's work.
[edit] The Lord of the Rings
Since 2004, he has toured the world conducting local orchestras in the performance of his new symphonic arrangement of his highly acclaimed Lord of the Rings scores. The new work is entitled The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. There are two movements for each of the movies, and an intermission between the second and third (or first and second, in some cases) movements. The concert presentation of the symphony also includes projected still images relating the music being performed to scenes from the films. Recently, however, Shore has been busy with other projects, leaving other conductors including Markus Huber, Alexander Mickelthwaite, and John Mauceri to lead the orchestras. April 24, 2008 marked the North American Live to Projection debut of Fellowship of the Ring, with the score performed live by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ludwig Wicki. Wicki also conducted the Filene Center Orchestra at the Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia on May 21 and 22, 2008 in the U.S. premiere of the Fellowship of the Ring Live to Projection.
[edit] King Kong
Although Shore was originally commissioned to compose the soundtrack for King Kong (indeed, he had already recorded most of the music), he was later replaced by James Newton Howard due to "differing creative aspirations for the score" on his and the filmmakers' parts. This was a mutual agreement between him and Peter Jackson.
Despite this, Shore has a cameo near the end of King Kong as the conductor of the pit orchestra in the theater.
[edit] Miscellany
- Shore makes a cameo appearance on film in The Return of the King (extended edition) as a Guard of Rohan, during the drinking game at Edoras.
- Shore was played by Neil Portnow in the 1989 film version of Bob Woodward's book Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi.
[edit] Selected filmography
- Eastern Promises (2007)
- The Last Mimzy (2007)
- Soul of the Ultimate Nation (MMORPG) (2007)
- The Departed (2006)
- A History of Violence (2005)
- The Aviator (2004)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- Spider (2002)
- Panic Room (2002)
- Gangs of New York (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Score (2001)
- The Cell (2000)
- High Fidelity (2000)
- Analyze This (1999)
- Dogma (1999)
- Cop Land (1997)
- The Game (1997)
- That Thing You Do! (1996)
- Crash (1996)
- Se7en (1995)
- Moonlight and Valentino (1995)
- Ed Wood (1994)
- The Client (1994)
- Philadelphia (1993)
- Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Naked Lunch (film) (1991)
- Dead Ringers (1988)
- Big (1988)
- The Fly (1986)
- After Hours (1985)
- Videodrome (1983)
- Scanners (1981)
[edit] Awards
- Shore won the 2002, 2003 and 2004 Grammies for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for his scores to The Lord of the Rings films, and the 2004 Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for "Into the West" from The Return of the King.
- He won back-to-back Golden Globes in 2003 and 2004 for The Return of the King and The Aviator, respectively.
- Shore won the 2001 Academy Award for Best Original Score (for The Fellowship of the Ring) and the 2003 Oscar for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, both for The Return of the King.
- On June 11, 2007, Shore was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from York University in Toronto for "his sweeping artistic vision" [3].
- Shore has also been honored with awards from The National Board of Review, Recording Academy Honors, The Broadcast Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, The British Academy of Film And Television Arts, Genie Award, World Soundtrack Award, New York's Gotham Award, and The Saturn Award for Science Fiction
- Shore is the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Science Fiction Feature Film for The Last Mimzy.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Howard Shore at the Internet Movie Database
- Howard Shore at Soundtrackguide.net
- Howard Shore at The Danish Filmmusic Society (DFS)
- Howard Shore Interview at Tracksounds
