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, conductor, and orchestrator. He is best known for creating music for movies. He has composed music for over 80 films. His most famous works are the scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies.

Shore has won many awards for his music. He received three Academy Awards for his work on The Lord of the Rings. One of these 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, having scored almost all of his films since 1979. He has also worked with director Martin Scorsese on six of his movies.

Besides films, Shore has composed music for concerts and an opera called The Fly. He also worked in television. From 1975 to 1980, he was the original music director for the popular American comedy show Saturday Night Live. In addition to his Oscars, Shore has won three Golden Globe Awards, four Grammy Awards, and many other honors.

Early Life and Music Journey

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

When he was 13, Shore became good friends with Lorne Michaels at summer camp. This friendship later helped him a lot in his career. By age 17, he 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. Later, from 1975 to 1980, he was the music director for Lorne Michaels' famous show Saturday Night Live. He even appeared in some sketches on the show. Shore also suggested the name for the musical group The Blues Brothers.

Composing for Movies

Early Film Scores (1978–2000)

Shore's first movie music was for a thriller called I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses in 1978. After that, he started working with director David Cronenberg. He composed music for almost all of Cronenberg's films, starting with The Brood in 1979.

His first film score not directed by Cronenberg was for Martin Scorsese's After Hours in 1985. He then scored other well-known films like The Fly (1986) and Big (1988), which starred Tom Hanks.

In 1991, Shore composed the music for the highly praised film The Silence of the Lambs. This movie won five major Academy Awards. Shore is the only living composer to have scored a film that won these "Top Five" Oscars. He also received his first BAFTA nomination for this score.

He continued to work on many successful films in the 1990s. These included Philadelphia (1993), which won Tom Hanks an Oscar, and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). He also scored Ed Wood (1994), which was one of the few Tim Burton films not scored by Danny Elfman. Shore also composed music for David Fincher's films Seven (1995) and The Game (1997).

The Lord of the Rings and Beyond (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. Many people were surprised he was chosen for this epic fantasy film. However, his music was a massive hit. It won him his first Oscar and a Grammy Award.

In the next two years, he scored the other films in the trilogy: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). The Return of the King was very successful. Shore won his second Oscar for Best Original Score for this film. He also won a third Oscar for the song "Into the West". The music for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, mostly performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, became one of the most famous film scores ever. Many reviews call it one of the best film scores of all time.

After The Lord of the Rings, Shore continued to work with Martin Scorsese. He scored The Aviator (2004), winning another Golden Globe. He also scored A History of Violence (2005) and The Departed (2006), both of which were very popular films.

Shore was initially going to compose music for the 2005 film King Kong. However, he was later replaced by another composer due to different ideas about the music. Even so, Shore made a small appearance in the film as a conductor.

Recent Works (2007–present)

In 2007, Shore composed music for the video game Soul of the Ultimate Nation. He also scored the films The Last Mimzy and Eastern Promises, continuing his work with David Cronenberg.

He composed music for Eclipse (2010), which was the third movie in the Twilight series. In 2011, he worked with David Cronenberg again on A Dangerous Method. He also scored Martin Scorsese's film Hugo, which earned him another Oscar nomination.

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

Conducting and Concerts

Since 2004, Howard Shore has traveled the world conducting orchestras. He performs his special symphonic version of his Lord of the Rings scores. This work is called The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. It has two parts for each movie. These concerts often show images from the films while the music plays.

Shore has also composed other concert pieces. He wrote a piano concerto called Ruin and Memory for the famous pianist Lang Lang. His second concerto, Mythic Gardens, was for cello. He also wrote a song cycle called A Palace Upon the Ruins.

His opera The Fly had its first performance in Paris in 2008. It was directed by David Cronenberg and conducted by Plácido Domingo.

Television and Radio Work

Besides his famous film scores, Shore has also worked in television. He wrote the original theme song for Saturday Night Live. He also co-wrote the theme song for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show when Conan O'Brien was the host.

In 2021, it was announced that Shore would compose the main title theme for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series.

Shore also narrated a radio documentary called "Unsettling Scores" for CBC Radio. It was about music in thriller films and radio dramas.

Personal Life

Howard Shore is the uncle of film composer Ryan Shore. As of 2004, he lives in Tuxedo Park, New York. He is married to Elizabeth Cotnoir, who is a writer and filmmaker. They have one daughter.

Film Music List

Awards and Special Recognitions

Howard 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 for "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 awards. Two were for Best Original Score for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Aviator (2004). He also won for Best Original Song for "Into the West". This made him one of the few composers to win consecutive Golden Globes for Best Original Score.

Shore has won three consecutive 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 also been nominated for five BAFTA awards.

In 2007, York University in Toronto gave Shore an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree. This was to recognize his amazing artistic work. In 2008, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.

In 2010, the City of Vienna gave him the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award. In 2012, he received Canada's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. In 2016, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to film and music.

See also

In Spanish: Howard Shore para niños

• List of film director and composer collaborations