Howard Shore's is one of today’s most prolific and accomplished composers - his compositions are performed in concert halls around the world by the most prestigious orchestras & his numerous film scores are heard in cinemas across the globe. Most renowned for his score for the ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy & 'The Hobbit’ series, these scores have garnered him three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, as well as numerous critics’ and festival Awards. Ruin & Memory: This piano concerto was written for Lang Lang in 2010 for Chopin’s 200th anniversary year & was commissioned by the Beijing Music Festival Arts Foundation & artistically supported by Long Yu, Chairman of the Artistic Committee of the Beijing Music Festival. The concerto has romantic touches, including a cadenza in the third movement, but its musical forces owe much to the classical era. Mythic Gardens: This Concerto for Violoncello & Orchestra (2012) was written for Sophie Shao & sits as a companion piece to ‘Ruin & Memory’. Sophie Shao is the winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant & top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions in recent years.

Following the theatrical release of all three films, Howard Shore reworked the film scores of the trilogy into The Lord of the Rings Symphony, a more structured six-movement work for orchestra and choir. This has been performed in various concert halls around the world, accompanied by a light and visual art show by Alan Lee and John Howe. On September 13, 2011, Shore released "The Lord of the Rings Symphony" on CD and MP3 format. The double-album was recorded in Lucerne, Switzerland and performed by the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus under the direction of Ludwig Wicki.