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West Coast Premiere Arena Tour Announced
The Lord of the Rings – In Concert:
The Fellowship of the Ring
Howard Shore’s Grammy®-winning score
performed live to full film on-stage by over 250 musicians
Munich Symphony Orchestra
Pacific Chorale
Phoenix Boys Choir
Conducted by Ludwig Wicki
Nine-city tour starts October 12
at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona
www.lordoftheringsinconcert.com
There is only one Lord of the Rings. Come share in the power.
(City, Date) --- A nine-city West Coast tour of the highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings In
Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring will begin on October 12 at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale,
Arizona. Featuring Howard Shore’s complete Academy Award® and Grammy®–winning score
performed live on-stage by more than 250 musicians, the Glendale presentation of Fellowship
will be followed by engagements in San Diego, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Portland, Seattle, Fresno,
Oakland and Sacramento. Celebrated Maestro Ludwig Wicki, the preeminent conductor of
Howard Shore’s Ring music, will conduct all performances. Joining Maestro Wicki is soprano
Kaitlyn Lusk, who has toured the world as a soloist in The Lord of the Rings Symphony.
Peter Jackson’s complete award-winning epic will be projected digitally on an immense 60-foot
screen using an uncompressed high definition source with two 20k lumen projectors while the
combined forces of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale, and Phoenix Boys Choir
bring the music of Middle-earth to life.
Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 6 for all cities.
The Lord of the Rings – In Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring kicks off a three-year celebration
during which each of the three Academy Award®-winning films will be performed In Concert
upon the tenth anniversary of its release. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) will tour in 2011,
The Two Towers (2002) in 2012, and the grand finale, The Return of the King (2003), in 2013.
Composer Howard Shore said, "My first score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship
of the Ring, was the beginning of my journey into the world of Tolkien, and I will always hold a
special fondness for the music and the experience."
Shore’s score not only captures Fellowship’s sweeping emotion, thrilling vistas and grand
journeys, but also echoes the very construction of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Styles, instruments
and performers collected from around the world provide each of Tolkien’s cultures with a unique
musical imprint. In operatic fashion, these musical worlds commingle, sometimes combining
forces for a culminated power, other times violently clashing – and always bending to the will of
the One Ring and its own ominous family of themes.
Doug Adams, author of the comprehensive book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films and
advisor to this In Concert presentation said, “The Lord of the Rings is a story of universal human
themes and experiences, including perseverance, sacrifice, friendship, and loyalty. These were
the backbone of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, of Peter Jackson’s films and, of course, of Howard
Shore’s music.
These live performances place the score in the spotlight, and create a wholly new and unique
audience experience. Even our most ardent fans are amazed at how completely Shore
recreates Middle-earth in music – and how the live score provides narrative clarity, structural
complexity, and above all, a living heart to the story. There’s nothing quite like it.
This is an extraordinarily moving communal experience. It's our chance to join the Fellowship."
In 2009, over 10,000 people filled New York’s Radio City Music Hall for the American premiere
of The Lord of the Rings In Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring. The New York Times said,
“The music of Middle-earth soared through misty climes and rumbled through Hadean depths at
Radio City Music Hall [as] Howard Shore’s intricate, far-reaching fabric of leitmotifs surged to
the fore.” Entertainment Weekly said “it was a terrific night at the theater.”
ABOUT THE FILM
Released on December 18, 2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first
installment of Peter Jackson’s fantasy adventure film trilogy based on the novels of J.R.R.
Tolkien. A long-lost Ring has been found and, through twists of fate, is in the possession of a
small hobbit named Frodo Baggins.
When Gandalf the grey Wizard discovers this Ring is in fact the all-powerful One Ring, Frodo
must lead an epic quest to Mount Doom in order to destroy it. However he does not go alone.
Frodo is joined by Gandalf, Legolas the elf, Gimli the Dwarf, Aragorn, Boromir and his three
hobbit friends Merry, Pippin and Samwise – the Fellowship of the Ring.
Considered one of the most ambitious projects in film history, it took eight years to bring The
Lord of the Rings to the screen. The result was an artistic and popular success of the highest
order. The films won a total of 17 Academy Awards®, and are among the top-grossing films of
all-time.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Howard Shore (Composer) is among today’s most respected, honored, and active composers
and conductors. His work with Peter Jackson on The Lord of the Rings trilogy stands as his
most towering achievement to date, earning him three Academy Awards®. He has also been
awarded four Grammys® and three Golden Globes. Shore was one of the original creators of
Saturday Night Live serving as the music director from 1975 - 80. At the same time, he began
collaborating with David Cronenberg, and has scored 12 of the director’s films, including The
Fly, Dead Ringers, Crash, Naked Lunch and Eastern Promises, for which he was honored with
a Genie Award. Shore continues to distinguish himself with a wide range of projects, from Martin
Scorsese’s The Departed, The Aviator, and Gangs of New York, to Ed Wood, The Silence of the
Lambs, Philadelphia, and Mrs. Doubtfire.
Shore’s music has been performed in concerts throughout the world. In 2003, Shore conducted
the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the world premiere of The Lord of the
Rings Symphony in Wellington, New Zealand. Since then, the work has had over 140
performances by the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In 2008, Howard Shore’s opera, The
Fly, had its premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and at L.A. Opera. Other recent works
include Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia and a piano concerto for Lang Lang.
He is currently working on his second opera and looks forward to a return to Middle-earth with
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Shore received the Career Achievement for Music Composition Award from the National Board
of Review of Motion Pictures and New York Chapter's Recording Academy Honors, ASCAP’s
Henry Mancini Award and the Frederick Loewe Award. He holds honorary doctorates from
Berklee College of Music and York University, and he is an Officer of the French Order of Arts
and Letters.
Ludwig Wicki (Conductor) began his career as a member of the Lucerne Symphony and
Opera Orchestra and is founder of the San Marco Brass and the Philharmonic Brass Quintet.
After studying choral conducting with the music director of the renowned Dresdner Kreuzchores
in Germany, Wicki became a permanent member of the Schola Romanum Luzernsis under the
direction of Pater Roman Bannwart. Wicki then went on to become the music director at the
Palace Chapel of Lucerne, where he led the choir in Georgian chants and performances of
Bach, Handel, Monteverdi and Palestrina, as well as the orchestra in works by Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert and more. He inaugurated a Renaissance ensemble, Il Dolcimelo, and
created the concert series Treffpunkt Haydn. In 1999, he founded the 21st Century Symphony
Orchestra, which has collaborated with such internationally renowned composers as Howard
Shore, Randy Newman and Martin Böttcher. In 2007, the city of Lucerne presented Maestro
Wicki with a Special Achievement Award for his contribution to the city’s cultural life.
The Munich Symphony Orchestra is one of Munich’s four symphony orchestras and
developed in 1990 out of the former Graunke Symphony Orchestra, which was founded by Kurt
Graunke in 1945. Under his direction, the orchestra quickly achieved a high standard of
perfection, not only winning favor with the general public, but also being held in high esteem by
experts and the media. Today the Munich Symphony Orchestra is one of the most important
vehicles of culture, not only in Munich but also in all of southern Germany. For more than half a
century, the orchestra has made a considerable contribution to the cultural life of Munich with an
extensive repertoire, which includes symphonic concert pieces, performances of opera, light
opera, musicals and ballets as well as oratories and church music. Regular concerts in Bavaria
and numerous tours throughout Germany as well as through Europe, Asia and the Americas
have firmly established the reputation of the Munich Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra is also deeply involved in working with promising young soloists and conductors,
thus playing an important role in boosting the careers of talented young musicians. The Munich
Symphony Orchestra has also made a name for itself in relation with its successful appearances
with famous soloists, for example with the performances of singers such as Lucia Aliberti,
Monserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Placido Domingo, Simon Estes, Edita Gruberova, Siegfried
Jerusalem, Vesselina Kasarova, Waltraud Meier, Hermann Prey, Margaret Price, and Angelika
Kirchschlager.
The orchestra has provided the soundtracks for more than five hundred films, and has become
one of the leading ensembles in the field of international film music. The film The Silence of the
Lambs is the best illustration of this.
Founded in 1947, the Phoenix Boys Choir has programs featuring training in voice, music
theory, and performance for boys age 7 to 14. Beginning with the Training Choir, boys can
progress to Cadet, Town and Tour choirs, and upon graduation, participate in the Master’s
Choir. Currently, there are approximately 150 young boys and men participating, making it one
of the largest and most active boy-choirs in the U.S. One of the most prestigious awards
bestowed upon the Phoenix Boys Choir to date was received in the summer of 2007 during their
European concert tour. The choir participated in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth
Music Festival at the renowned Musikverein in Vienna, at which it won first prize.
The Choir won a 2000 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for their recording of
Penderecki’s Credo with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by
Helmuth Rilling. Credo is one of eight compact discs featuring the Choir, the most recent being
Joy To The World. Tour Choirs have sung in major venues in Europe, historical cathedrals
around the world, and named “Cultural Ambassadors” to the European Union; while the choir
has performed with the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, Phoenix Chorale, and the Orpheus
Chorus.
Kaitlyn Lusk made her major orchestral singing debut with the Baltimore Symphony in 2003 at
the age of 14 and has since been sought after for solo appearances with many of the nation’s
leading orchestras. Since the fall of 2004, Kaitlyn has been the featured vocal soloist in Howard
Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony. She has performed this role with over 25 orchestras
in the United States and Canada from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the San Francisco
Symphony, and from the Houston Symphony to the Minnesota Orchestra. She has performed
with conductors including Keith Lockhart, Alexander Mickelthwate, Allaistar Willis, Stuart Malina,
Nicolas Palmer, and Markus Huber.
In January 2007, Kaitlyn made her European debut with Maestro John Mauceri and the
Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. In the summer of 2007, as part of an encore performance of
The Lord of the Rings Symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra, she once again performed with
Howard Shore, who in 2005 invited Kaitlyn to perform the Academy Award®-winning song as
part of the Grammy® Honors of Howard Shore in New York City. In addition to her live
performances, Kaitlyn’s first studio album, No Looking Back, features some of the top musicians
and songwriters in the industry today and was produced by the award-winning composer and
arranger, Kim Scharnberg.