The Hobbit trailer hit last month (as most of you know!), and besides the stunning visuals and memorable character introductions, the two and a half minute video also featured some glorious bits of music – some familiar, some new.

If, like us, you too can’t wait until the official soundtrack for The Hobbit releases, here’s something to tide you over.

Dan from Germany alerted us to a YouTube video that he created. He writes:

It’s a little orchestral suite using the new musical themes from Howard Shore that were introduced in the trailer for the hobbit.

If you go to the movies, even casually, you have been moved by his work. Assisting directors, he makes audiences laugh and cry and with over 80 scores, three Oscars and more than 50 other awards to his name, Howard Shore is a master movie composer. He has collaborated with David Cronenberg, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme and David Fincher to name just a few. But it is his work with Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy that has won him his widest commercial acclaim.

With a nine-city tour of The Lord of the Rings in concert: The Fellowship of the Ring to kick off Wednesday in Glendale Arizona, TheOneRing.net spoke with Shore (in London) by phone about the unique event that combines a film screening with a live performance of his score.

TORn: Is there an excitement about these live performances?

Howard Shore: It is very exciting, I am very much looking forward to it. Continue reading “Howard Shore talks FOTR concert tour with TORn”

Middle Earth Has Never Sounded So Good.
  
The Lord of the Rings In Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring is the groundbreaking first installment of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film trilogy.  Featuring, Howard Shore’s complete Academy Award® and Grammy®–winning score performed live on-stage by more than 250 musicians with the film projected on an immense 60-foot screen.  Entertainment Weekly calls it “High Class Geekery” and The San Francisco Examiner exclaims “It’s The Concert of the Decade.”

The Lord of the Rings in Concert will be hitting San Diego, California on October 13. In addition to the orchestra performance of the soundtrack live to the screening of the film, they will also have 22 original movie props and costumes on display. Since they will also have the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra performing before the big concert, this is definitely going to be a Family Friendly event. See the link below for tickets and further details. http://valleyviewcasinocenter.com/Lord-of-the-Rings-In-Concert-October-13-7-30-pm

But the invasion begins earlier, this Saturday, to be exact. There will be a flashmob of Hobbits and other Middle-earth denizens near the Old Globe Theater tomorrow, October 8 at 12:30pm. See the Valley View Casino Center’s facebook page linked below for more details and a Youtube video showing the flashmob dance steps. More..

Doug Adams writes: In May of this year, I was contacted by Howard Shore’s office with a rather unique request: Can you write a concert? Wait, let me back up.

Before I came into the picture this inchoate concert was the brainchild of James Cassidy, conductor of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Cassidy had envisioned a concert that would encompass both of the great musical Rings, one Wagner’s, one Tolkien’s/Shore’s. He had brought his idea to Shore, who was intrigued. This, of course, had been a topic of conversation for a number of years. Jonathan Dean had given some Wagner/Shore talks back in the early 2000s, and added some thoughts for the Music of LOTR book. Alex Ross had written a piece for the New Yorker. One of New York’s very first choral performances of Shore’s Rings music featured a sort of back-to-back with Wagner. But these fascinating comparative glimpses were just this — cursory glimpses into a rich vein of subject matter. More..

Julia writes: Hello! This isn’t really a huge scoop but the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is doing the Lord of the Rings in Concert in October 2012. As far as I am aware this is the first time it’s been done in Melbourne, so I’m very excited to be able to finally go and see it! Tickets on sale October 16th. More..