Howard Shore
Howard Shore is one of today’s premier composers whose music is performed in concert halls around the world by the most prestigious orchestras and is heard in cinemas across the globe.
Shore’s musical interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginative world of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as portrayed in the films directed by Peter Jackson, have enthralled people of all generations for years. This work stands as his most acclaimed composition to date awarding him with three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes as well as numerous critic’s and festival awards.
He is an Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la France, the recipient of Canada’s Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and is an officer of the Order of Canada. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures honored Howard Shore with an award for Career Achievement for Music Composition, the City of Vienna bestowed him with the Max Steiner Award and in 2017 he received the Wojciech Kilar Award established by the mayors of Krakow and Katowice. Shore has received numerous other awards for his career achievements.
Shore was one of the original creators of Saturday Night Live and served as music director from 1975 – 1980. At the same time, he began collaborating with David Cronenberg and has since scored most of the director’s films, including The Fly, Crash, and Naked Lunch. He was awarded Canadian Screen Awards for Maps to the Stars for score and Cosmopolis for both score and song. His original scores to A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises and Dead Ringers were each honoured with a Genie Award. His most recent film with Cronenberg – The Shrouds – was released in 2024. Shore continues to distinguish himself with a wide range of projects, from Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, The Departed, The Aviator (for which he won his third Golden Globe Award) and Gangs of New York to Ed Wood, Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Mrs. Doubtfire and the score for Tom McCarthy’s Academy Award-winning film Spotlight. His score for François Girard’s film The Song of Namespremiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and won the Canadian Screen Awards for Best Score and Song. In 2020, his scores for Michel Hazanavicius’ film Le Prince Oublié premiered in France in February and Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September.
In 2003, Shore conducted the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings Symphony in Wellington. Since then, the Symphony and The Lord of the Rings – Live to Projection concerts have had over 500 performances by the world’s most prestigious orchestras.
Howard Shore receives the inaugural London Soundtrack Festival Inspiration Award at the 2025 festival.
Howard Shore at #LSF25
Film: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy + Howard Shore intro
BFI IMAX
Film: Crash – Screening + intro by David Cronenberg & Howard Shore
BFI IMAX