Howard Shore | |
|---|---|
 Shore in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Howard Leslie Shore (1946-10-18)October 18, 1946 (age 79) |
| Genres | Film score,classical |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, orchestrator, conductor, music producer |
| Instrument(s) | Piano,organ,clarinet,flute |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Formerly of | Lighthouse |
Spouse | |
| Website | howardshore |
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and orchestrator noted for his film scores.[1] He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably thescores forThe Lord of the Rings andThe Hobbit film trilogies. He won threeAcademy Awards for his work onThe Lord of the Rings, with one being for the song "Into the West", an award he shared withEurythmics lead vocalistAnnie Lennox and writer/producerFran Walsh, who wrote the lyrics. He is a consistentcollaborator with directorDavid Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979, and collaborated withMartin Scorsese on six of his films.
Shore has also composed concert works including oneopera,The Fly, based on the plot of Cronenberg's1986 film, which premiered at theThéâtre du Châtelet in Paris on July 2, 2008;[2] a short piece namedFanfare for the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra; and a short overture for the Swiss 21st Century Symphony Orchestra. Shore has also composed for television, including serving as the original musical director for the American sketch comedy showSaturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980.
In addition to his three Oscars, Shore has also won threeGolden Globe Awards, fourGrammy Awards, threeGenie Awards, and nineCanadian Screen Awards.
Shore was born inToronto,Ontario, Canada, the son ofJewish[3] parents Bernice (née Ash) and Mac Shore.[4][5] He started studying music around the age of 8 or 9. He learned a multitude of instruments and began playing in bands at the ages of 13 and 14. When Shore was 13, he met and became good friends with a youngLorne Michaels in summer camp, and this friendship would later be influential in his career.[6] By 17, he decided he wanted to pursue music in his adult life too.[7] He studied music atBerklee College of Music inBoston after graduating fromForest Hill Collegiate Institute.[8][9]
From 1969 to 1972, Shore was a member of thejazz fusion bandLighthouse.[10] In 1970, he became the music director forLorne Michaels andHart Pomerantz's short-lived TV programThe Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour. Shore wrote the music for Canadian magicianDoug Henning's magic musicalSpellbound in 1974 and, from 1975 to 1980, he was the musical director for Michaels' influential late-night NBC sketch comedy showSaturday Night Live,[11] appearing in many musical sketches, including Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band, and dressed as a beekeeper for aDan Aykroyd/John Belushi performance of theSlim Harpo classic "I'm a King Bee". Shore also suggested the name forthe Blues Brothers to Aykroyd and Belushi.[12]
Shore's first film score was to the low budget thrillerI Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (1978), followed byDavid Cronenberg's first major film,The Brood (1979).[8] He would go on to score all of Cronenberg's subsequent films, with the exception ofThe Dead Zone (1983), which was scored byMichael Kamen. The first film he scored that was not directed by Cronenberg wasMartin Scorsese'sAfter Hours (1985). Following that, he scoredThe Fly (1986), again directed by Cronenberg. Two years later, he composed the score toBig (1988), directed byPenny Marshall and starringTom Hanks. He then scored two more of David Cronenberg's films:Dead Ringers (1988) andNaked Lunch (1991).
During 1991, Shore composed the score for the highly acclaimed filmThe Silence of the Lambs, starringJodie Foster andAnthony Hopkins, and directed byJonathan Demme. He received his firstBAFTA nomination for the score. The film became the third (and most recent) to win the five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress). Shore is the only living composer to have scored a "Top Five" Oscar-winning film.
During 1993, he composed the scores forM. Butterfly (another collaboration with Cronenberg),Philadelphia (his second collaboration with Jonathan Demme), andMrs. Doubtfire, directed byChris Columbus. The latter two films were highly successful,Philadelphia winningTom Hanks his first Oscar.
Shore scored another three films in 1994:The Client,Ed Wood, andNobody's Fool.Ed Wood is notable for being one of the three films directed by Tim Burton that did not feature a score byDanny Elfman.
Shore continued to score numerous films from 1995 to 2001, including twoDavid Fincher films,Seven (1995) andThe Game (1997), andThe Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996), directed byMichael Lehmann; he also collaborated on two films with Cronenberg, along with Tom Hanks' directorial debut,That Thing You Do!. He scoredKevin Smith’sDogma (1999). Shore also composed the score of the 2000 filmThe Cell.
Major success came in 2001 with his score toThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first film in the highly acclaimed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The news that Shore would score the trilogy surprised some, since he was primarily associated with dark, ominous films and had never scored an epic of this scale. Yet, the score was hugely successful and won Shore his first Oscar, as well as a Grammy Award, and garnered Shore nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
The following year, Shore composed the scores toPanic Room,Gangs of New York (replacingElmer Bernstein), andThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second film in the trilogy (the latter two films were both nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Picture). Though Shore's score forThe Two Towers was going to be deemed ineligible for submission to the academy due to a new rule disallowing the submission of scores which contained themes from previous work, the implementation of this rule change was postponed, and the score remained eligible.[13]The Two Towers score did not receive an Academy Award nomination, but Shore did receive a BAFTA nomination forGangs of New York.
In 2003, Shore composed the score for the final film inThe Lord of the Rings trilogy,The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The film was the most successful film in the trilogy and the most successful of the year. Shore won his second Oscar for Best Original Score, as well as a third for Best Original Song for "Into the West", which he shared withFran Walsh andAnnie Lennox. Shore also won his first Golden Globe, his third and fourth Grammy (the fourth for Best Song), and was nominated for a third BAFTA. The scores ofThe Lord of the Rings, performed primarily by theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra, became some of the most successful film scores ever written and are the biggest success in Shore's career so far. The score has been repeatedly and continually[14] voted as the best film score in history; the review site Filmtracks named Shore's scores "arguably the most respected and impressive trilogy of music of all time: Howard Shore's massive work for Peter Jackson'sThe Lord of the Rings."[15] As of April 2023, Shore is currently in litigation with Star-Entertainment Berlin over their unauthorized use of his music fromThe Lord of the Rings andThe Hobbit in poor quality concerts, following a concert on 1 April 2023 at the Portsmouth Guildhall which was reportedly so poor that every audience member was given a full refund and the production company were banned from the premises permanently.[16]
In 2004, Shore again collaborated with Martin Scorsese, scoring Scorcese's epicThe Aviator, this time with theBrussels Philharmonic.[17] He won a second Golden Globe for the score, becoming the third composer to have won consecutive Golden Globes in the Original Score category. He also received his sixth Grammy nomination, and his fifth BAFTA nomination.
He collaborated again with David Cronenberg in 2005 to scoreA History of Violence, starringViggo Mortensen[18] (who played Aragorn in theRings trilogy). The film was a success and received two Oscar nominations. In 2006, he collaborated for the fourth time with Martin Scorsese, this time to scoreThe Departed.[19] That film was highly successful, and won four Oscars including a long-awaited win for Scorsese, and the Oscar for Best Picture.
Although Shore was originally commissioned to compose the soundtrack forKing Kong, he was later replaced byJames Newton Howard due to "differing creative aspirations for the score" on his and the filmmakers' parts.[20] This was a mutual agreement between himself andPeter Jackson. Despite this, Shore has a cameo near the end of the film as theconductor of theorchestra in the theater, performing portions ofMax Steiner's score to theoriginal 1933 version of the film.
In 2007, Shore composed the music forSoul of the Ultimate Nation, an online multiplayer video game, featuringLydia Kavina on thetheremin. During 2007 he also composed the scores forThe Last Mimzy andEastern Promises, the latter of which includes a section that has been performed in concert as Shore'sConcertino for violin solo and chamber orchestra.[21]Eastern Promises was another collaboration with David Cronenberg and earned Shore his fourth Golden Globe nomination. In 2008, he scoredDoubt, starring Meryl Streep and directed byJohn Patrick Shanley. The film was a success, earning five Oscar nominations.
In 2010, Shore composed the score toEclipse, the third installment in theTwilight film series, followingCarter Burwell andAlexandre Desplat, who scored the first and second films, respectively. He then replacedJohn Corigliano to scoreEdge of Darkness, starringMel Gibson.
Shore's 2011 projects wereA Dangerous Method, continuing his long-term collaboration with director David Cronenberg. He composed the score toMartin Scorsese'sHugo, his fifth collaboration with the director, which earned him a sixth Golden Globe nomination and fourth Oscar nomination.[9]
He created the score toPeter Jackson'sThe Hobbit film series.[22] In addition, Shore composed the opening theme forThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon.
Since 2004, he has toured the worldconducting localorchestras in the performance of his newsymphonic arrangement of his highly acclaimedLord of the Rings scores. The new work is entitledThe Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. There are two movements for each of the movies, and anintermission between the second and third (or first and second film titles[23]) movements. The concert presentation of the symphony also includes projected still images of sketches by John Howe and Alan Lee 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, Ludwig Wicki, Alexander Mickelthwaite, andJohn Mauceri to lead the orchestras.
April 24, 2008, marked the North American Live to Projection debut ofFellowship of the Ring, with the score performed live by theWinnipeg 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 theFellowship of the Ring Live to Projection.
September 16, 2010, Shore conducted the RSO Vienna (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra) which performed "In Dreams from The Fellowship of the Ring" atHollywood in Vienna in Vienna, Austria.Shore was commissioned by Macy's to write a Fanfare for the Store's 150th anniversary featuring thePhiladelphia Orchestra and theWanamaker Organ, the world's largest playing pipe organ.[24] The work was debuted in the Grand Court of Macy's Philadelphia Store on September 27, 2008, in a concert that drew reviews from most of the major East Coast newspapers.
Shore's operaThe Fly had its world premiere performance at theThéâtre du Châtelet in Paris on July 2, 2008, and its United States premiere atLos Angeles Opera on September 7, 2008. The production was directed byDavid Cronenberg and conducted byPlácido Domingo.The Fly had a new production mounted by Theatre Trier in Germany in 2014 staged bySebastian Welker and conducted by Joongbae Jee.[25]
Shore was commissioned by the Beijing Music Festival to writeRuin and Memory, a piano concerto, for the pianistLang Lang. The world premiere was on October 11, 2010, performed by Lang Lang,The China Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted byLong Yu.[26] His second concerto,Mythic Gardens, premiered April 27, 2012, with Sophie Shao on cello solo, TheAmerican Symphony Orchestra and conducted byLeon Botstein.[27]
Shore's song cycleA Palace Upon the Ruins premiered in 2014 at theBridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and at the La Jolla SummerFest featuring mezzo-sopranoJennifer Johnson Cano.A Palace Upon the Ruins is a song cycle of six songs with words by Elizabeth Cotnoir.[28]
Sea to Sea was commissioned byNew Brunswick Youth Orchestra in celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation and premiered on July 2, 2017, in Moncton, New Brunswick, with soloistMeasha Brueggergosman and Antonio Delgado conducting.Sea to Sea has lyrics by Elizabeth Cotnoir.[29]
The song cycleL'Aube premiered October 19 & 20, 2017 in Toronto atRoy Thompson Hall conducted byPeter Oundjian and performed by soloist Susan Platts and commissioning orchestra, theToronto Symphony Orchestra.L'Aube consists of five songs with text by Elizabeth Cotnoir.[30]
The Forest a guitar concerto composed forMiloš Karadaglić premiered in Ottawa on May 1 & 2, 2019 with theNational Arts Centre Orchestra andAlexander Shelley conducting.[31]
In addition to writing the original theme song forSaturday Night Live,[32] as well as the closing theme,[33] Shore also co-wrote the theme song forLate Night with Conan O'Brien withJohn Lurie.[34] The theme was carried over toThe Tonight Show when O'Brien succeededJay Leno as host.[35]
In September 2021, it was reported that Shore was in talk to compose the music for the upcomingThe Lord of the Rings TV series onAmazon Prime Video, returning from theLord of the Rings andHobbit films; the series was eventually scored byBear McCreary with Shore writing the main title theme for the opening credits only.[36][37]
Shore narrated a one-hourCBC Radio documentary/soundscape on music in thriller/suspense film genres also including references to radio dramas and other media. The episode was called "Unsettling Scores"[38] and premiered on the program calledInside the Music.
He is the uncle of film composerRyan Shore.[39]
As of 2004, Shore lives inTuxedo Park, New York.[40] Shore is married to Elizabeth Cotnoir, a writer, producer and documentary filmmaker. He has one daughter.[40]
Shore has received four Academy Award nominations, winning three, two forBest Original Score, forThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), andThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). He also won the Oscar forBest Original Song for "Into the West" fromThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.[41] He received his fourth nomination for his work onHugo.[42]
Shore has also received sixGolden Globe nominations, winning three awards: forBest Original Score forThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) andThe Aviator (2004) andBest Original Song for "Into the West" fromThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, making him the second composer (afterAlan Menken) to have received consecutiveGolden Globe Awards forBest Original Score. He also won three consecutiveGrammy Awards forBest Score for each of theLord of the Rings films, and received a second award in 2003 for the song "Into the West" fromReturn of the King in the category ofBest Song. He has also received five BAFTA nominations, but has not won.
On June 11, 2007, Shore was awarded anHonorary Doctor of Letters Degree fromYork University inToronto for "his sweeping artistic vision".[43] This award was shared with the year's commencement ceremony and the University focused heavily in Shore's honor, includingThe Lord of the Rings theme playing throughout the event.[44]
Shore has also been honored with awards fromThe National Board of Review,Recording Academy Honors,The Broadcast Film Critics,Chicago Film Critics,Genie Award,World Soundtrack Award, New York'sGotham Award, and TheSaturn Award for Science Fiction.
Shore is the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Science Fiction Feature Film forThe Last Mimzy.
In May 2008, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music fromBerklee College of Music during Berklee's commencement ceremony at the Agganis Arena.[45]
On September 16, 2010, he was awarded the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award by the City ofVienna at the yearly film music gala concertHollywood in Vienna.[46]
In 2012, he received Canada'sGovernor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.[47]
In 2016, he was appointed as anOfficer of the Order of Canada for his work towards the film and music industry.[48]
I live in Tuxedo Park, N.Y. and spend time in the West Village, where my wife Elizabeth Cotnoir, a writer-producer and documentary filmmaker, has an office.
