Howard Shore
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Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is an Oscar-, Golden Globe- and Grammy Award-winning Canadian composer, best known for composing the scores to The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and 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
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He was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Canada, and studied music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. From 1969 to 1972, he performed with the group Lighthouse. In 1974, Shore wrote the music for Canadian magician Doug Henning's magical/musical "Spellbound" co-starring fledgling actress Jennifer Dale. He was the musical director for the television show Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980, appearing in many musical sketches including the 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". He 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
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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.
[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 theatre.
[edit] Trivia
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- He 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.
- He is the uncle of composer Ryan Shore.
- 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)
- The Game (1997)
- That Thing You Do! (1996)
- Se7en (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)
- 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, respectively, for The Return of the King and The Aviator.
- Shore won the 2001 Oscar for Best Original Score in 2001 (for The Fellowship of the Ring) and the 2003 Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, both for The Return of the King.
- On Monday, June 11, 2007 Howard Shore was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from York University in Toronto, Ontario for his "sweeping artistic vision."
- 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, Canada's Genie Award, Belgium's World Soundtrack Award, New York's Gotham Award, and The Saturn Award for Science Fiction
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official web site
- Howard Shore at the Internet Movie Database
- Howard Shore at Soundtrackguide.net
- Howard Shore Interview at Tracksoundsca:Howard Shore
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Categories: Articles needing additional references from August 2007 | Articles with trivia sections from June 2007 | 1946 births | Living people | Berklee College of Music alumni | Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters | Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners | Canadian film score composers | Canadian Jews | Jewish classical musicians | Jewish composers and songwriters | Grammy Award winners
