Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores.

Shore has also composed concert works including one opera, The Fly, based on the plot of Cronenberg's 1986 film, which premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on July 2, 2008;[2] a short piece named Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra; and a short overture for the Swiss 21st Century Symphony Orchestra.

Shore has also composed for television, including serving as the original musical director for the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980.

When Shore was 13, he met and became good friends with a young Lorne Michaels in summer camp, and this friendship would later be influential in his career.

During 1991, Shore composed the score for the highly acclaimed film The Silence of the Lambs, starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, and directed by Jonathan Demme.

The following year, Shore composed the scores to Panic Room, Gangs of New York (replacing Elmer Bernstein), and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second film in the trilogy.

"[15] As of April 2023, Shore is currently in litigation with Star-Entertainment Berlin over their unauthorized use of his music from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and poor quality concerts, following a concert on 1 April 2023 at the Portsmouth Guildhall which was reportedly so poor that every audience member was given a full refund and the production company were banned from the premises permanently.

[16] In 2004, Shore again collaborated with Martin Scorsese, scoring his epic film The Aviator, this time with the Brussels Philharmonic.

Although Shore was originally commissioned to compose the soundtrack for King Kong, he was later replaced by James Newton Howard due to "differing creative aspirations for the score" on his and the filmmakers' parts.

In 2007, Shore composed the music for Soul of the Ultimate Nation, an online multiplayer video game, featuring Lydia Kavina on the theremin.

During 2007 he also composed the scores for The Last Mimzy and Eastern Promises, the latter of which includes a section that has been performed in concert as Shore's Concertino for violin solo and chamber orchestra.

Since 2004, he has toured the world conducting local orchestras in the performance of his new symphonic arrangement of his highly acclaimed Lord of the Rings scores.

The concert presentation of the symphony also includes projected still images of sketches by John Howe and Alan Lee relating the music being performed to scenes from the films.

Recently, however, Shore has been busy with other projects, leaving other conductors including Markus Huber, Ludwig Wicki, Alexander Mickelthwaite, and John Mauceri to lead the orchestras.

Wicki also conducted the Filene Center Orchestra at the Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia on May 21 and 22, 2008 in the U.S. premiere of the Fellowship of the Ring Live to Projection.

[24] The work was debuted in the Grand Court of Macy's Philadelphia Store on September 27, 2008, in a concert that drew reviews from most of the major East Coast newspapers.

The Fly had a new production mounted by Theatre Trier in Germany in 2014 staged by Sebastian Welker and conducted by Joongbae Jee.

[26] His second concerto, Mythic Gardens, premiered April 27, 2012, with Sophie Shao on cello solo, The American Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Leon Botstein.

[27] Shore's song cycle A Palace Upon the Ruins premiered in 2014 at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and at the La Jolla SummerFest featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano.

[30] The Forest a guitar concerto composed for Miloš Karadaglić premiered in Ottawa on May 1 & 2, 2019 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Alexander Shelley conducting.

[35] In September 2021, it was reported that Shore was in talk to compose the music for the upcoming The Lord of the Rings TV series on Amazon Prime Video, returning from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films; the series was eventually scored by Bear McCreary with Shore writing the main title theme for the opening credits only.

On June 11, 2007, Shore was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from York University in Toronto for "his sweeping artistic vision".

[43] This award was shared with the year's commencement ceremony and the University focused heavily in Shore's honor, including The Lord of the Rings theme playing throughout the event.