The War of the Rohirrim and The Rings of Power are both nominated in one of the most prestigious music awards competitions.

According to Variety, which has the entire nominees list, two The Lord of the Rings projects are individually nominated in their respective categories. Bear McCreary (Instagram) is nominated for Season 2 of The Rings of Power, and Stephen Gallagher (Instagram) is nominated for The War of the Rohirrim. This marks the first time in history that Tolkien adaptations in both TV and Film are recognized for excellence at the same time.

World Soundtrack Nominees

Here are the categories LOTR is competitive in for 2025 World Soundtrack Awards.

Television Composer of the Year

  • Volker Bertelmann – “The Day of the Jackal”; “Dune: Prophecy”; “The Count of Monte Cristo”
  • David Fleming, Gustavo Santaolalla – “The Last of Us” (Season 2)
  • Ariel Marx – “Dying for Sex”
  • Bear McCreary – “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (Season 2)
  • Martin Phipps – “Black Doves”
  • Theodore Shapiro – “Severance” (Season 2)

Public Choice Award

  • “Buio come il cuore” (Dark Is the Heart) – David Cerquetti
  • “Hola Frida” – Laetitia Pansanel-Garric
  • “Ni chaînes ni maîtres” – Amine Bouhafa
  • “Reagan” – John Coda
  • “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” – Stephen Gallagher

Want to talk more about music from The Lord of the Rings? Join the Discord where members alerted us to this news first!

Bear Mcreary and Stephen Gallagher LOTR composers
Bear Mcreary and Stephen Gallagher LOTR composers

An intimate evening of music, magic, and heavy metal open to the public.

Bear McCreary is bringing his score for season 2 of The Rings of Power to the Grammy Museum on June 4. Tickets are available now for AmEx cardholders at $30, and public sales start this Saturday, via the Grammy site.

If you end up attending, please send in a full report! Our DMs are open on social, and the anonymous tipline is spymaster@theonering.net

McCreary is heavily promoting his score for the Prime Video series during their FYC Emmy nomination campaign. He recently performed at UCLA, and you can read a new interview with Bear at Deadline that teases work on Season 3.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Oxonmoot, an annual event hosted by The Tolkien Society in Oxford, UK. The event will be available to stream live from Thursday, August 31 through Sunday, September 3.

Bear McCreary

Bear McCreary will join Oxonmoot for an exclusive chat on Friday, September 1st at 4:40pm UK-time (8:40am PDT / 11:40am EDT / 5:40pm CET), and the session will be available live to online attendees.

McCreary, a lifelong Tolkien fan, composed the 37 tracks that make up the score for Prime’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. His work for the show received acclaim from fans and critics alike. The gorgeous themes he developed for the show were completely new yet still reflective of the scores that Howard Shore composed for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. McCreary is also know for his work on Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, and Outlander, among other television series. McCreary is articulate in speaking about his methodology, and he is just plain fun in an interview.

Brian Sibley

Brian Sibley will also be a guest at Oxonmoot. His session is called “‘The Fall of Númenor’: An Editor’s Journey.” As the name of the event implies, Mr. Sibley edited the volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings titled The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth, which was illustrated by Alan Lee. Sibley will speak about the “pleasures and pitfalls” in editing the book.

Sibley has written extensively for radio dramas such as BBC Radio 4’s adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. He is well known for authoring many “making of” books about films, including those for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as the Harry Potter series. He is incredibly knowledgeable about Tolkien and fascinating to listen to.

You can register for online attendance to Oxonmoot at https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2023/oxonmoot-2023-online-bookings/