Zurich, June 11, 2024

The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) will honor Canadian composer and three-time Academy Award winner Howard Shore with the Career Achievement Award for his life's work. The award will be presented to him on October 5, 2024, during the «Cinema in Concert» gala at the Tonhalle Zürich. Shore will preside over the jury of the 12th International Film Music Competition (IFMC). He is best known for his music for the film trilogies LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT, for which he won multiple Oscars for Best Original Score.

The Zurich Film Festival annually awards honorary prizes to significant filmmakers whose works have shaped and enriched the film landscape. This year, the ZFF (October 3 - October 13) honors Howard Shore's multifaceted life’s work with the Career Achievement Award. «Howard Shore is one of the greatest film composers of our time», explains Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of ZFF. «He has written iconic scores for milestones in film history such as LORD OF THE RINGS or THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He is a musician who listens well before composing and puts his melodies entirely at the service of the stories. He is also distinguished by enormous versatility and can elevate films in any genre with his music. We owe intense and unforgettable cinematic experiences to Shore’s music. »

Howard Shore is delighted to come to Zurich for the 20th ZFF: «I am honored to have been invited to the 20th anniversary of the Zurich Film Festival to receive the Career Achievement Award and to be the jury president of the 12th International Film Music Competition. I am looking forward to the 'Cinema in Concert' gala with the great Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich conducted by Frank Strobel celebrating the art of music in films.» He is also eager to give young film composers the opportunity to present their work in such a setting, creating new perspectives.

The Maestro Behind the Masterpieces of Cinema and Classical Music

Howard Shore is one of the most renowned composers of our time and a prodigious talent whose works have made film history and whose music is performed in concert halls around the world by the most prestigious orchestras. Shore's interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative world of LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT, as depicted in the films directed by Peter Jackson, has captivated people of all generations for years. This work is considered his most acclaimed composition to date, earning him three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, as well as numerous critics' and festival awards.

With the Greats of Film History: Shore has worked with prominent directors such as David Cronenberg, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, Penny Marshall, David Fincher, Stephen Frears, Jonathan Demme, Al Pacino and Sidney Lumet, composing scores for films like THE DEPARTED, HUGO, THE FLY, THE AVIATOR, ED WOOD, SE7EN, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, PHILADELPHIA, and GANGS OF NEW YORK. His contributions to film music have been recognized with Academy, Grammy, and Golden Globe Awards, as well as numerous honors at film festivals and institutions worldwide, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the American Film Institute, the International Cinephile Society, and the Krakow Film Music Festival. He is also a recipient of Canada’s Governor General's Performing Arts Award, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has been honored with the Max Steiner Award by the city of Vienna.

In addition to his film compositions, Shore has made significant contributions to classical music. His notable works include the opera «The Fly» the piano concerto «Ruin and Memory» and the song cycle «A Palace Upon the Ruins.» His concert pieces including «The Lord of the Rings Symphony» and «The Lord of the Rings Live to Projection» have been performed over 500 times worldwide. Shore's dedication and craftsmanship have earned him invitations to give lectures and masterclasses at prestigious institutions around the world, including the Oxford Union, the Royal Conservatory, Yale, NYU, Juilliard, UCLA, the University of Toronto, the Berklee School of Music, the Berlinale, the Cinémathèque in Paris, and Trinity College Dublin, where he received the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage. His recent works include film scores such as PIECES OF A WOMAN and THE PALE BLUE EYE underscoring his continued influence in the world of film and music.

Howard Shore at the IFMC

The Zurich Film Festival and the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich, in collaboration with the Forum Filmmusik, will hold the 12th International Film Music Competition this year. The task is to score the eight-minute short film THE FLYING SAILOR by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby for a symphony orchestra.

The international jury will select three compositions from the submissions, which will be premiered by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the direction of Frank Strobel during the glamorous «Cinema in Concert» gala at the Tonhalle Zürich on October 5, 2024, in the presence of the three nominees. «The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich has made a name for itself in the field of film symphonies. Looking into the future in this genre and giving young composers a stage is very important to us as an institution», says Marc Barwisch, Head of Artistic Operations at the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich. The jury, chaired by Oscar winner Howard Shore, will announce the winning composition on the same evening and award the Golden Eye for «Best International Film Music 2024», endowed with CHF 10,000.

The expert jury of this year's IFMC consists of:

• Howard Shore (Composer & Conductor, Canada, Jury President)
• Frank Strobel (Conductor & Musician, Germany)
• Nicolas Rabaeus (Composer & Sound Designer, Switzerland)
• Rachel Braunschweig (Film and Theater Actress, Switzerland)

Special thanks go to the Else v. Sick Stiftung and the Friends of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, as well as the Fondation SUISA, SWISSPERFORM, the Phonoproduzierende Stiftung, and the Isaac Dreyfus-Bernheim Stiftung.

Media contacts:

Zurich Film Festival
Simon Keller, Manager PR
[email protected], + 41 78 745 13 71

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich:
Katharine Jackson, Press Officer
[email protected], +41 44 206 34 58