Alyse, ORC Art Show Director, writes: The Art Show at this year’s ORC went amazingly well. We had so many talented artists from around the country sharing their work with the fans in attendance. And the fans were in for a real treat!
Tim Kirk displayed many of his original paintings that were used in the 1975 Hobbit calendar. Theresa Mather shared her incredible artwork including unique paintings on feathers. Colleen Doran gave fans a glimpse of two new original pieces inspired by The Lord of the Rings. Don Flaws had his comical caricatures on display. He was also drawing fans dressed up as Elves and Hobbits throughout the weekend. Rhonda Morgan also entertained fans by beautifully playing her harp on Friday and Sunday. And quite a number of amateur artists had ceramic pieces, drawings, paintings, and digital artwork on display and for sale.
On Friday, we held the first Iron Artist competition. This one hour event was a hilarious experience and a chance to see professional and amateur artists creating artwork from scratch. The host Tadao Tomomato entertained the crowd and judges as we spoofed the Iron Chef show. The theme for the competition was “Ent-Wives” and this proved to be an inspiring challenge for the artists. Amateur contestant Olga Bosserdt upset Colleen Doran in the “Illustration” category, Don Flaws won the “Cartooning” category against amateur Ashley Taylor, and amateur Aubrey Guilbault narrowly won the “Children’s Illustration” category going up against the talented Cynthia Cummens. All of the original pieces created during the event were later displayed in the Art Show room and auctioned off Sunday afternoon to benefit VSA Arts (www.vsarts.org). We raised almost $500 for the non-profit organization.
Throughout the weekend, fans could vote on their favorite artwork displayed in the Art Show. As well, children attending the convention could also pick their favorites. The Art Show staff selected the top 3 amateur artwork in the show too. Quickbeam announced the winners of the Art Show at the One Ring Awards party:
Kid’s Choice – “Burning of Esgaroth” by Charles Burggraf
Fan Favorite –
1st “Burning of Esgaroth” by Charles Burggraf
2nd “The Fellowship of the Rings” by Suvi Utermohlen
3rd “Back Again” by Charles Burggraf
Best in Show – Amateur Category
1st “Guardian” by Olga Bosserdt
2nd “Lothlorian” by Kate Cunningham
3rd “Galadriel’s Ewer” by Nancy Steinman
Big thank you to all of the wonderful artists who shared their work with us and participated in this year’s art show. And thanks to all the fans who took the time to visit the art show during such a busy weekend. We hope you enjoyed it!
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Master Sergeant Keavin Lawdermilk of the Co A, 1st BN, 1st Special Forces Group out of Fort Lewis, Washington writes: I recently had the opportunity to attend the ORC 2006 in Pasadena. It was my first time attending any Lord of the Rings conventions. Had a wonderful time. Several months ago I had returned from military duty in Iraq. I sustained a gunshot injury to my right leg. During the photo-op session with Sean Astin he learned I just returned from Iraq. Mr. Astin was very nice and attentive. At the end of the time that Mr. Astin, and Mr. Wood were “on-stage” Mr. Astin asked me to come up on stage. It was something I was not prepared for, but was exciting. Mr. Astin introduced me to the wonderful ORC group. I have noticed on your website that several members have posted pictures of me on stage. Would it be possible for you to post on your website my email address so those members who took pictures of me on stage could email them to me (if they want to). When I returned home (I am still on convalescent leave) I informed my family, and friends on what happened at the ORC Pasadena convention. Some did not believe me. They say “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I want to thank everyone at theonering.net, Creation Entertainment, Mr. Sean Astin, and Mr. Elijah Wood, and the wonderful “Ringers” who made my first Lord of the Rings convention a wonderful time.
If anyone has photos of MSG Keavin Lawdermilk on stage, send them along!
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Two days from now, the 50-odd cast members of The Lord Of The Rings stage production will don their Hobbit feet, elf ears and Orc armour for the first full-length dress rehearsal of the $27-million epic. A scant two days after that, the curtain will rise at Toronto’s packed-to-the-rafters Princess of Wales Theatre, and 2,000 paying audience members will be the first in the world to behold the three-hour melding of theatre, music and special effects. Two days from the first full dress rehearsal of a monstrously complex show to the first public performance of same? And you thought dodging evil wizards and Black Riders to chuck a magic ring into a volcano sounded scarier than hell. [More]
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HOWARD SHORE’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS SYMPHONY WILL RECEIVE THREE PERFORMANCES BY THE WORLD-RENOWNED CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMPOSER FEBRUARY 10 – 12, 2006 IN SEVERANCE HALL
FEBRUARY CONCERTS WILL BRING TOTAL NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES OF THE SYMPHONY TO MORE THAN NINETY SINCE DEBUT IN WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND IN NOVEMBER 2003
“Shore’s symphonic journey certainly echoes J.R.R. Tolkien’s dark and wonderful story, with its mysterious swirling mists, majestic sweeps and whimsical touches where needed. But nothing can match the impact of Shore’s most powerful passages drawing upon full brass and percussion.” – Pittsburgh Post Gazette
New York, NY, January 23, 2006– Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Chorus reaches a milestone next month when the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra gives three performances of the work under the direction of the composer. Concerts in Cleveland’s Severance Hall on February 10, 11 and 12 – and in Lyon, France, also in February – will bring the total number of performances of the work to more than 90 since its world-premiere in New Zealand in November 2003.
Looking ahead to the occasion of conducting the justly celebrated ensemble, Howard Shore comments, “To be working with one of the great orchestras in the world is truly an honor.”
Founded in 1918, The Cleveland Orchestra has long been regarded as one of America’s – indeed the world’s – greatest ensembles. Under the direction of a series of extraordinary maestros – including the legendary George Szell and, more recently, Christoph von Dohnányi and current Music Director Franz Welser-Möst – the orchestra has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for the breathtaking beauty of its sound and the exceptional breadth of its repertoire.
Peter Czornyj, Artistic Administrator, said, “The Lord of the Rings Symphony has a double appeal of not only being a compelling and evocative piece of music but also a work that will allow us to continue to bring new, diverse, and younger audiences into Severance Hall to hear the Cleveland Orchestra.”
Shore has led a number of previous performances of the two-hour-long symphony as well as the enormously successful soundtrack recordings that accompanied director Peter Jackson’s three record-breaking films in The Lord of the Rings series. Shore also conducts the complete score to the first of the three “Rings” films, The Fellowship of the Ring, on a new deluxe four-CD set released In December 2005 by Warner Reprise. The set contains all the music Shore wrote for the film’s extended version, plus a DVD offering the score in Dolby Surround Sound.
Near the time of the Cleveland performances– but across the Atlantic – the Orchestra National de Lyon will present two performances of the symphony (February 10 and 11). In the spring, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra will also give two performances in Denver (May 19 – 21).
Since its premiere performance in Wellington, New Zealand, on November 29, 2003, Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony has been performed nearly 90 times on four continents. Audiences from Sydney and Tokyo to Los Angeles and London have greeted the two-hour work with rousing ovations following performances in some of the world’s most famous venues – including Sydney’s Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall and Moscow’s Kremlin Palace Theater.
Some of the world’s leading international orchestras – including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the London Philharmonic – have performed The Lord of the Rings Symphony in addition to regional orchestras across the United States. In summer 2005 the symphony was played in the Odeon Herod Atticus in Athens, Greece, one of the city’s most famous outdoor theaters; at the prestigious Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany; and in Oslo’s Frognerparken, where Norway’s acclaimed Oslo Philharmonic played it for a crowd estimated to have topped 70,000. The same orchestra gave another performance a few days later in Bergen for a crowd estimated at more than 30,000. The first two movements of the symphony, comprising The Fellowship of the Ring – the first installment of Tolkien’s trilogy – was performed on a program entitled “The Rings: Myth and Music” with music by Richard Wagner at New York’s Carnegie Hall last November.
Shore takes particular pride in the fact that performances of The Lord of the Rings Symphony all over the world have been given not by a single touring orchestra but almost entirely by local performers:
“The symphony has been presented around the world, but regardless of where it has been done the performances have been given by local artists. That’s the real joy of it for me: this work is helping awaken community interest in the symphony orchestra.”
In addition to Shore, five other conductors have performed the piece internationally: John Mauceri, Alexander Mickelthwate, Markus Huber, Alastair Willis and Terry Edwards.
Howard Shore is currently working on an opera based on his film collaboration with David Cronenberg – a commission of The Fly for Los Angeles Opera. His score for The Aviator (his third collaboration with director Martin Scorsese) won both Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards and was just nominated for a Grammy. His soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and the song “Into the West” both won Grammy Awards last year as well as two Oscars and two Golden Globe Awards. His soundtracks for the previous installments of the trilogy – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – were also honored with Grammy awards. Shore’s score for The Fellowship of the Ring also earned him an Oscar for Best Original Score. Earlier this month the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures presented Shore with its 2005 Career Achievement for Film Music Composition award.
About The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Chorus
Howard Shore wrote his six-movement The Lord of the Rings Symphony for symphony orchestra, adult and children’s choirs, as well as solo instrumentalists and vocalists, totaling more than 200 musicians on stage. Working with conductor John Mauceri, who first suggested that the music of The Lord of the Rings be preserved as an independent work for the concert hall, Shore created a two-hour symphony drawing from the nearly 12 hours of music he composed for Peter Jackson’s phenomenally successful film trilogy. (Shore received three Oscars and four Grammy awards for the soundtrack recordings.) The six movements of the symphony correspond to the progression of the epic through the six books that were adapted for the film trilogy. These movements capture the enormous complexity and limitless imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien’s creation – from the simple, pastoral beauty of the hobbits’ Shire to the magic and mystery of the Elves and the monumental battle scenes – in music by turns explosive, ethereal and, ultimately, transcendent.
As Doug Adams, author of the soon-to-be-published book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films explained in a Chicago Tribune interview, “There’s a different style of music for each culture of characters: hobbit, elf, dwarf. If you go to the symphony performance it’s very much like an abstract version of Tolkien’s story.”
Shore achieves this enormous feat by the ingenious use and juxtaposition of a plethora of recurring motifs – close to 80 in all – associated with the various characters and places in the books. Shore’s employment of some instruments foreign to the traditional Western symphony orchestra – and of choral settings in Tolkien’s languages – help conjure up the ancient beauty of Middle-earth, its diverse inhabitants, and the harrowing struggle between the forces of good and evil.
Shore likens the daunting experience of writing the music for the three The Lord of the Rings films to that of the humble hobbit asked to carry the ring. “When I started,” he told the Chicago Tribune, “I was the hobbit with the ring saying, ‘I will do this. I will take the ring to Mordor, although I do not know the way.’” Shore considers his work on The Lord of the Rings to be the culmination of everything he has done in his first 40 years of writing music.
Critical acclaim for Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony
“It wasn’t the crowd that typically attends an orchestra concert, but it was an uplifting sight to see – and one that has been repeated around the world as Howard Shore’s ‘The Lord of the Rings Symphony’ draws new audiences to the symphony…This symphony…is breathtaking. Shore’s music takes listeners into new worlds, evoking a panorama of emotions that cut to the heart including love, serenity, pain and fury. It deserves to be enjoyed long after the movies have left the multiplex.”
– Buffalo News
“[Howard Shore’s] instinct for melody is superb, his integration of legitimate ancient music sources with contemporary-sounding tonal clusters and harmonic invention is terrific, and, most of all, he creates, as both Jackson and Tolkien did before him, an entire imagined universe that is both detailed and consistent.”
– Newark Star-Ledger
“There’s no denying the sweep and rich texture of the work, with its Celtic-like tunes, moody pop songs, and effective use of choral voices (think Carmina Burana, only darker). And Shore’s nod to Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the very end, with the orchestra reveling in the healing power of a major chord, makes a satisfying coda. …When the last notes dissipated, it sounded as if the demonstrative audience would keep the ovation going until long after all signs of Elvish had left the building.”
– Baltimore Sun
“Shore’s musical opus is every bit as impressive as Tolkien’s literary one, standing on its own as a sweeping, operatic experience, even when liberated from the majesty of Jackson’s trilogy.”
– The Seattle Times
“Among the highlights of the six-movement [The Lord of the Rings Symphony] was ‘The Prophecy,’ featuring a lonely ney flute that evoked the other-worldliness of 5,000-year-old Middle-earth. The chorus swelled and climbed with urgent excitement in ‘Concerning Hobbits,’ and a solo fiddle added effervescence to ‘The Shadow of the Past.’ Heavy percussive drive on ‘The Bridge of Khazad-dum’ sweepingly suggested a history of classic cinema spectaculars. Emotional interludes included ‘Hope and Memory’ and ‘The Riders of Rohan’; ‘A Knife in the Dark’ pulsated with ‘Camina Burana’ excitement.”
– Variety
Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Upcoming Performances
Friday, February 10, Saturday, February 11 and Sunday, February 12
Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Howard Shore
Cleveland, OH (Severance Hall)
Friday, February 10 and Saturday, February 11
Orchestre de Lyon conducted by Terry Edwards
Lyon, France (Hall of Tony Garnier)
Friday, May 19, Saturday May 20, Sunday, May 21
Colorado Symphony Orchestra conducted by Markus Huber
Denver, Colorado (Boettcher Hall)
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