Hollywood composer Howard Shore teams up with N.B. youth orchestra
Working with Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore was 'a great honour' for orchestra
What do The Lord of the Rings, Silence of the Lambs, Gangs of New York and the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra have in common?
It's simple: Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore.
- From rock bands to film scores to orchestras, Howard Shore is a jack-of-all-trades
- Lord of the Rings composer's latest work pays tribute to opera star
The Toronto-born musician built a stellar career creating some of the most memorable songs in movie history and this year he teamed up with the NBYO to create a song titled Sea to Sea.
Shore was commissioned to help production on the song as part of the Canada 150 celebrations. The song is expected to finally become available on iTunes on Dec. 8.
'We literally spent three weeks composing an email'
"We thought 'let's commission an original piece of music to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday' but at the same time let's see if we can engage an internationally renowned composer," said the youth orchestra's CEO Ken MacLeod.
What a wonderful experience for our young musicians to have that kind of intimate, personal experience with the Lord of the Rings composer.—Ken MacLeod
Shore's name was at the top of their list.
MacLeod said they eventually found Shore's personal email through a friend and made a pitch to the famous composer to see if he was interested — fretting over every single syllable of the pitch to make sure it was just right.
"We literally spent three weeks composing an email because we wanted just to say the right thing to try and grab his attention and his interest," he said.
MacLeod received a phone call from Shore roughly three weeks later. Having the world-renowned composer help the orchestra was wonderful, he said.
Shore spent a day and a half with the orchestra, listening, advising and making recommendations through the recording engineer and conductor to the orchestra members themselves.
"What a wonderful experience for our young musicians to have that kind of intimate, personal experience with the Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore," he added.
"For them, they consider it a great honour."
With files from Shift: New Brunswick