Howard Shore facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Howard Shore OC
Shore in 2013
Background information
Birth name	Howard Leslie Shore
Born	(1946-10-18) October 18, 1946 (age 78) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Film score, classical
Occupation(s)	Composer, orchestrator, conductor, music producer
Instruments	Piano, organ, clarinet, flute
Years active	1969–present

Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a famous Canadian composer. He is also a conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for creating music for movies.

Shore has composed music for over 80 films. His most famous works are the scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie series. He won three Academy Awards for his work on The Lord of the Rings. One award was for the song "Into the West". He shared this award with singer Annie Lennox and writer Fran Walsh.

He often works with director David Cronenberg. Shore has scored almost all of Cronenberg's films since 1979. He also worked with Martin Scorsese on six of his movies. Besides films, Shore has written music for concerts and an opera called The Fly. He was also the original music director for the TV show Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980.

Shore has won many awards. These include three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and four Grammy Awards. He also won three Genie Awards and nine Canadian Screen Awards.

Early Life and Music Start

Howard Shore was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His parents were Bernice and Mac Shore. He started learning music when he was about 8 or 9 years old. He learned to play many instruments. By the time he was 13 or 14, he was playing in bands.

When Shore was 13, he met Lorne Michaels at summer camp. They became good friends. This friendship later helped his career. By age 17, Shore decided he wanted to make music his life's work. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

From 1969 to 1972, Shore was part of a jazz fusion band called Lighthouse. In 1970, he became the music director for a TV show called The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour. From 1975 to 1980, he was the music director for Saturday Night Live. He even appeared in some musical skits on the show. He also suggested the name for the Blues Brothers to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.

Composing for Movies

Early Film Scores (1978–2000)

Shore's first movie music was for a thriller called I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (1978). After that, he scored David Cronenberg's film The Brood (1979). He continued to score almost all of Cronenberg's movies. The first movie he scored that wasn't by Cronenberg was Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985).

He then composed music for The Fly (1986), directed by Cronenberg. Two years later, he scored Big (1988), starring Tom Hanks. He also worked on Dead Ringers (1988) and Naked Lunch (1991) with Cronenberg.

In 1991, Shore composed the music for the famous film The Silence of the Lambs. This movie starred Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. He received his first BAFTA nomination for this score. The film won many major awards.

In 1993, he scored M. Butterfly (with Cronenberg again). He also worked on Philadelphia and Mrs. Doubtfire. Both Philadelphia and Mrs. Doubtfire were very successful movies.

Shore continued to score many films from 1995 to 2001. These included two films by David Fincher, Seven (1995) and The Game (1997). He also scored Dogma (1999) and The Cell (2000).

The Lord of the Rings Success (2001–2006)

Shore at a press conference for The Lord of the Rings in Wellington, New Zealand, 2003

A huge success came in 2001 with his music for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This was the first movie in the very popular Lord of the Rings series. Some people were surprised that Shore would score such a big fantasy movie. He was known for darker films. However, the music was a huge hit. It won Shore his first Oscar and a Grammy Award.

In 2002, Shore composed music for Panic Room and Gangs of New York. He also scored The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second film in the trilogy.

In 2003, Shore created the music for the last film in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. This movie was the most successful of the series. Shore won his second Oscar for Best Original Score. He also won a third Oscar for Best Original Song, "Into the West." He shared this award with Fran Walsh and Annie Lennox. Shore also won his first Golden Globe and more Grammys.

The music for The Lord of the Rings was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. These scores became some of the most famous film scores ever. Many people consider them among the best film scores in history.

In 2004, Shore worked with Martin Scorsese again. He scored Scorsese's movie The Aviator. He won a second Golden Globe for this music. In 2005, he collaborated with David Cronenberg for A History of Violence. In 2006, he worked with Martin Scorsese a fourth time on The Departed. This film was very successful and won four Oscars.

Shore was supposed to compose the music for King Kong. However, he was replaced by James Newton Howard because of different ideas about the music. This was a friendly agreement. Even so, Shore has a small role in the film. He appears as a conductor of an orchestra.

Recent Works (2007–Present)

In 2007, Shore composed music for Soul of the Ultimate Nation, an online video game. He also scored The Last Mimzy and Eastern Promises. Eastern Promises was another movie with David Cronenberg.

In 2008, he scored Doubt, starring Meryl Streep. In 2010, Shore composed the music for Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series. He also scored Edge of Darkness, starring Mel Gibson.

Shore's 2011 projects included A Dangerous Method, another film with David Cronenberg. He also composed the music for Martin Scorsese's Hugo. This was his fifth time working with Scorsese. The music for Hugo earned him another Golden Globe and Oscar nomination.

He also created the music for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movie series. In addition, Shore composed the main theme for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series on Amazon.

Conducting and Performing

Since 2004, Howard Shore has traveled the world. He conducts orchestras that perform his special arrangement of Lord of the Rings music. This new work is called The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. It has two parts for each movie. The concerts also show pictures from the films.

Shore has also been busy with other projects. Other conductors now lead many of these concerts. On April 24, 2008, the Fellowship of the Ring movie was shown with its music played live by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Shore was asked to write a special fanfare for Macy's 150th anniversary. It featured the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Wanamaker Organ. This piece was first played on September 27, 2008.

Shore's opera The Fly was first performed in Paris on July 2, 2008. It was later performed in Los Angeles. David Cronenberg directed the opera, and Plácido Domingo conducted it.

Shore has also written concertos. A piano concerto called Ruin and Memory was first played in 2010. His second concerto, Mythic Gardens, for cello, premiered in 2012. He also composed a song cycle called A Palace Upon the Ruins in 2014.

Television Work

Howard Shore wrote the original theme song for Saturday Night Live. He also co-wrote the theme song for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. This theme was also used for The Tonight Show when Conan O'Brien became the host.

In 2021, it was reported that Shore would compose music for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series. While Bear McCreary scored the series, Shore wrote the main title theme for the opening credits.

Personal Life

Howard Shore is the uncle of film composer Ryan Shore.

As of 2004, Shore lives in Tuxedo Park, New York. He is married to Elizabeth Cotnoir. She is a writer, producer, and documentary filmmaker. They have one daughter.

Film Music List

Awards and Special Recognitions

Shore has been nominated for four Academy Awards and won three. He won two for Best Original Score for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). He also won an Oscar for Best Original Song, "Into the West," from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. His fourth nomination was for his work on Hugo.

He has also received six Golden Globe nominations, winning three. Two were for Best Original Score for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Aviator (2004). He won Best Original Song for "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He also won three Grammy Awards for Best Score for each of the Lord of the Rings films. He received another Grammy in 2003 for the song "Into the West." He has been nominated for five BAFTA awards.

On June 11, 2007, Shore received an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from York University in Toronto. This was for his amazing artistic vision.

Shore has also received awards from many other groups. These include The National Board of Review, Recording Academy Honors, and The Broadcast Film Critics. He also won a World Soundtrack Award and a Saturn Award for Science Fiction.

In May 2008, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. On September 16, 2010, he was given the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in Vienna. In 2012, he received Canada's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. In 2016, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. This was for his important work in the film and music industries.

See also

In Spanish: Howard Shore para niños