Howard Shore

Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and orchestrator known for his work in film music. He has composed scores for more than 80 films, including "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" film trilogies. Shore has frequently collaborated with director David Cronenberg, scoring nearly all of his films since 1979, and has also worked on several films directed by Martin Scorsese.

In addition to film scores, Shore has composed concert works, including the opera "The Fly", based on Cronenberg's 1986 film of the same name, which premiered at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on July 2, 2008. He also composed "Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra" and an overture for the Swiss 21st Century Symphony Orchestra. Shore worked in television as the original musical director for the American sketch comedy program "Saturday Night Live" from 1975 to 1980.

Shore has received three Academy Awards for his work on "The Lord of the Rings" films, including one for the song "Into the West", shared with Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh. He has also won three Golden Globe Awards, four Grammy Awards, three Genie Awards, and nine Canadian Screen Awards.

Shore was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Bernice Shore (nee Ash) and Mac Shore. He began studying music at the age of eight or nine and learned to play several instruments. As a teenager, he performed in bands and became friends with Lorne Michaels during summer camp. Shore later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston after graduating from Forest Hill Collegiate Institute.

From 1969 to 1972, Shore was a member of the jazz fusion band Lighthouse. In 1970, he became music director for "The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour". He composed music for Doug Henning's stage production "Spellbound" in 1974. Between 1975 and 1980, Shore served as musical director for "Saturday Night Live", appearing in various comedy sketches and contributing to musical performances. He also suggested the name "The Blues Brothers" to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.

Shore composed his first film score for "I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses" (1978), followed by "The Brood" (1979), directed by David Cronenberg. He subsequently scored most of Cronenberg's films, except for "The Dead Zone" (1983). His first collaboration with Martin Scorsese was "After Hours" (1985). Other films from this period included "The Fly" (1986), "Big" (1988), "Dead Ringers" (1988), and "Naked Lunch" (1991).

In 1991, Shore composed the score for "The Silence of the Lambs", directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. The film won the five major Academy Awards categories, including Best Picture. Shore later scored "Philadelphia" (1993), "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993), "The Client" (1994), "Ed Wood" (1994), "Nobody's Fool" (1994), "Seven" (1995), "The Game" (1997), "Dogma" (1999), and "The Cell" (2000).

Shore achieved wider recognition with his score for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001), directed by Peter Jackson. The score received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and nominations for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award. He later composed the scores for "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). For the latter, Shore won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for "Into the West". The scores for the trilogy, primarily performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, became among the most commercially successful and critically recognized film scores of the period.

In 2004, Shore composed the score for Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator", winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. He later collaborated again with Cronenberg on "A History of Violence" (2005) and with Scorsese on "The Departed" (2006). Although initially commissioned to score "King Kong" (2005), Shore was replaced during production by James Newton Howard. He appeared briefly in the film as an orchestra conductor.

In 2007, Shore composed music for the online multiplayer game "Soul of the Ultimate Nation" and scored "The Last Mimzy" and "Eastern Promises". The latter earned him another Golden Globe nomination. He later composed scores for films including "Doubt" (2008), "Eclipse" (2010), "Edge of Darkness" (2010), "A Dangerous Method" (2011), and "Hugo" (2011), the latter receiving Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Shore also composed the music for Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" film series and wrote the opening theme for the television series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power".