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Description

Ponyfied Howard Shore is exploreing Rivendell with Frodo and Aragorn

Film Scores: The Lord of the Rings, Big, The Silence of the Lambs, Mrs.Doubtfire, Ed Wood, Hugo, The Hobbit,

Howard Shore (1946-Present) is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979.

As the creator of scores for more than 50 films, Canadian composer and conductor Howard Shore has led several different musical lives. From the horn player in a sixties rock opera band, to leader of the Saturday Night Live band, to providing the epic musical backdrop to adventures in Middle Earth, Howard Shore has done more than most musicians dream of accomplishing. His award-winning success with the scores for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy echoes what John Williams experienced with his Star Wars scores. Here was a longstanding, well respected film composer who, with the help of a young visionary director, had his themes stamped into the minds of all who watched the films. It would be a challenge to find anyone walking out of a Lord of the Rings film who could not hum Shore's heroic theme for the trilogy. This achievement was the culmination of more than 20 years of film composing and of a life surrounded by music.

Shore studied in Boston at the Berklee School of Music for several years, but it was an encounter he had when he was 14 years old that set him on the path he would follow in his career. At summer camp, Shore and his fellow campers performed sketch comedies and musical acts every Saturday night. One of his fellow campers was none other than future Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. After Michaels became employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), Shore was also hired on as a songwriter and composer. Soon after this, Shore joined the Toronto jazz and rock group Lighthouse. The group's epic rock opera sound allowed Shore to work with orchestras and learn the basics of conducting. Lighthouse released eight albums before finally disbanding in 1976.

As Howard Shore searched for his next musical venture, he once again found himself working with his fellow ex-camper Lorne Michaels. Michaels was now starting up what would become the legendary NBC-TV sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Shore became musical director for the show's first five seasons from 1975-80, which launched the careers of comedians like John Belushi, Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Shore also composed the show's memorable, and still used, theme music. Shore had no idea the show would become as popular as it did. According to Shore in an interview with Index, NBC told him at the outset, "You'll be on at 11:30 p.m. Nobody is going to watch your show, so whatever you do is fine."

Toward the end of his time with Saturday Night Live, Shore was approached by another old friend, fellow Canadian and film director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg was directing the 1979 horror film The Brood, and had remembered Shore's work with CBC. Shore had never composed music for a film before. "I had studied music for years," said Shore in Index, "and I was only using a very small percentage of my ability on television and radio shows. I had grand dreams of what could be done musically. I guess I was an artist who hadn't really come out yet." Just as Shore had never scored a film before, Cronenberg had never directed a film before. The two became close friends, and a film and music partnership was soon born.

Shore's work for The Brood was met with critical acclaim, and the score led to more outstanding film work. For his film work, Shore mixed musical styles from different eras and parts of the world, and used electronic instruments and sampled sounds. Scores for films as diverse as Seven, High Fidelity, Silence of the Lambs, Ed Wood, and Dogma soon followed. Yet, it wasn't until filmmaker Peter Jackson sought out Shore's talents for the film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings fantasy novels that Shore's name became instantly connected with the world of film music. Shore researched the project for months, realizing the enormity of his undertaking--the three films, when shown together, would run for more than twelve hours. Shore handled the daunting task with grace, saying in Index, "Music is just one bar at a time. There are ten bars on a page, and then it's another page. It's a huge task, but you can go at it as efficiently as you can with each bar that you're writing, because you know you are creating a rather large work."

Shore's score for the trilogy's first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, was four hours long by itself. Just as Tolkien and Jackson had created new worlds in their work, so did Shore with the films' scores. From the Celtic-inspired sounds of the Hobbits' homeland to the military march sounds depicting the castle of an evil wizard, Shore's music set the mood perfectly for a fantasy epic. "It was a daunting task," said Shore, in an interview on the CTV website. "This is one of the most loved books, printed in 40 languages. We wanted to make a movie for all of us who love Tolkien. We were fans."

After the completion of the trilogy, Shore had the honor of winning numerous awards for his scores, including an Academy Award for his work on The Fellowship of the Ring and two Oscar Awards for The Return of the King. In early 2004 Shore returned home to Canada, where he conducted the Montreal Symphony performing his Lord of the Rings score. Shore has shown no signs of stopping his climb to the top. He is composing scores for highly anticipated works like director Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biography film The Aviator, and Peter Jackson's remake of the original monster film King Kong in 2005. For Shore, it's rather simple. In the CTV website interview he said, "The cinematography, the way the actors move, the way they say their lines, the writing, the editing--all of that tells me immediately what the music needs to be. The movies I choose not to do are the ones that I watch but don't have any feeling for. That does happen. But the good ones are the ones I watch, and when the movie's over I've already got the whole thing. I know exactly what it's going to sound like. The movie just tells it to me."

In 2004, Shore again collaborated with Martin Scorsese, scoring his epic film The Aviator. He won a second Golden Globe for the score, becoming the second composer to have won consecutive Golden Globes in the Original Score category. He also received his sixth Grammy nomination, and his fifth BAFTA nomination.

In 2010, Shore composed the score to the third installment in the highly popular Twilight film series, following Carter Burwell and Alexandre Desplat, who scored the first and second films, respectively. He also replaced John Corigliano to score Edge of Darkness, starring Mel Gibson.

Shore's 2011 projects are A Dangerous Method, continuing his long-term collaboration with director David Cronenberg. He also composed the score to Martin Scorsese's Hugo, his fifth collaboration with the director, which earned him a sixth Golden Globe nomination and fourth Oscar nomination.

Shore's future projects include Robert Sigl's The Spider and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, which is currently in production. He is also set to compose the music to Sinatra, and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, both of which are being directed by Martin Scorsese and are due for release in 2011.

Description

Ponyfied Howard Shore is exploreing Rivendell with Frodo and Aragorn

Film Scores: The Lord of the Rings, Big, The Silence of the Lambs, Mrs.Doubtfire, Ed Wood, Hugo, The Hobbit,

Howard Shore (1946-Present) is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979.

As the creator of scores for more than 50 films, Canadian composer and conductor Howard Shore has led several different musical lives. From the horn player in a sixties rock opera band, to leader of the Saturday Night Live band, to providing the epic musical backdrop to adventures in Middle Earth, Howard Shore has done more than most musicians dream of accomplishing. His award-winning success with the scores for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy echoes what John Williams experienced with his Star Wars scores. Here was a longstanding, well respected film composer who, with the help of a young visionary director, had his themes stamped into the minds of all who watched the films. It would be a challenge to find anyone walking out of a Lord of the Rings film who could not hum Shore's heroic theme for the trilogy. This achievement was the culmination of more than 20 years of film composing and of a life surrounded by music.

Shore studied in Boston at the Berklee School of Music for several years, but it was an encounter he had when he was 14 years old that set him on the path he would follow in his career. At summer camp, Shore and his fellow campers performed sketch comedies and musical acts every Saturday night. One of his fellow campers was none other than future Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. After Michaels became employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), Shore was also hired on as a songwriter and composer. Soon after this, Shore joined the Toronto jazz and rock group Lighthouse. The group's epic rock opera sound allowed Shore to work with orchestras and learn the basics of conducting. Lighthouse released eight albums before finally disbanding in 1976.

As Howard Shore searched for his next musical venture, he once again found himself working with his fellow ex-camper Lorne Michaels. Michaels was now starting up what would become the legendary NBC-TV sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Shore became musical director for the show's first five seasons from 1975-80, which launched the careers of comedians like John Belushi, Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Shore also composed the show's memorable, and still used, theme music. Shore had no idea the show would become as popular as it did. According to Shore in an interview with Index, NBC told him at the outset, "You'll be on at 11:30 p.m. Nobody is going to watch your show, so whatever you do is fine."

Toward the end of his time with Saturday Night Live, Shore was approached by another old friend, fellow Canadian and film director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg was directing the 1979 horror film The Brood, and had remembered Shore's work with CBC. Shore had never composed music for a film before. "I had studied music for years," said Shore in Index, "and I was only using a very small percentage of my ability on television and radio shows. I had grand dreams of what could be done musically. I guess I was an artist who hadn't really come out yet." Just as Shore had never scored a film before, Cronenberg had never directed a film before. The two became close friends, and a film and music partnership was soon born.

Shore's work for The Brood was met with critical acclaim, and the score led to more outstanding film work. For his film work, Shore mixed musical styles from different eras and parts of the world, and used electronic instruments and sampled sounds. Scores for films as diverse as Seven, High Fidelity, Silence of the Lambs, Ed Wood, and Dogma soon followed. Yet, it wasn't until filmmaker Peter Jackson sought out Shore's talents for the film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings fantasy novels that Shore's name became instantly connected with the world of film music. Shore researched the project for months, realizing the enormity of his undertaking--the three films, when shown together, would run for more than twelve hours. Shore handled the daunting task with grace, saying in Index, "Music is just one bar at a time. There are ten bars on a page, and then it's another page. It's a huge task, but you can go at it as efficiently as you can with each bar that you're writing, because you know you are creating a rather large work."

Shore's score for the trilogy's first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, was four hours long by itself. Just as Tolkien and Jackson had created new worlds in their work, so did Shore with the films' scores. From the Celtic-inspired sounds of the Hobbits' homeland to the military march sounds depicting the castle of an evil wizard, Shore's music set the mood perfectly for a fantasy epic. "It was a daunting task," said Shore, in an interview on the CTV website. "This is one of the most loved books, printed in 40 languages. We wanted to make a movie for all of us who love Tolkien. We were fans."

After the completion of the trilogy, Shore had the honor of winning numerous awards for his scores, including an Academy Award for his work on The Fellowship of the Ring and two Oscar Awards for The Return of the King. In early 2004 Shore returned home to Canada, where he conducted the Montreal Symphony performing his Lord of the Rings score. Shore has shown no signs of stopping his climb to the top. He is composing scores for highly anticipated works like director Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biography film The Aviator, and Peter Jackson's remake of the original monster film King Kong in 2005. For Shore, it's rather simple. In the CTV website interview he said, "The cinematography, the way the actors move, the way they say their lines, the writing, the editing--all of that tells me immediately what the music needs to be. The movies I choose not to do are the ones that I watch but don't have any feeling for. That does happen. But the good ones are the ones I watch, and when the movie's over I've already got the whole thing. I know exactly what it's going to sound like. The movie just tells it to me."

In 2004, Shore again collaborated with Martin Scorsese, scoring his epic film The Aviator. He won a second Golden Globe for the score, becoming the second composer to have won consecutive Golden Globes in the Original Score category. He also received his sixth Grammy nomination, and his fifth BAFTA nomination.

In 2010, Shore composed the score to the third installment in the highly popular Twilight film series, following Carter Burwell and Alexandre Desplat, who scored the first and second films, respectively. He also replaced John Corigliano to score Edge of Darkness, starring Mel Gibson.

Shore's 2011 projects are A Dangerous Method, continuing his long-term collaboration with director David Cronenberg. He also composed the score to Martin Scorsese's Hugo, his fifth collaboration with the director, which earned him a sixth Golden Globe nomination and fourth Oscar nomination.

Shore's future projects include Robert Sigl's The Spider and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, which is currently in production. He is also set to compose the music to Sinatra, and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, both of which are being directed by Martin Scorsese and are due for release in 2011.