The complete film accompanied live by Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, and Soloists

Please note: Due to late end time, there is no metro shuttle service for this performance.

Join us an hour before show time for a Pre-Performance Preview on the Old Farmhouse Lawn for lectures and demonstrations that offer insight and interpretation of the evening’s performance.
More Information on the Pre-Performance Preview Series

Composer Howard Shore brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary imagination to vivid life with his Academy and Grammy Award-winning score to Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Shore crafted a fully-developed musical epic that related the classic tale with moving and intricately related themes for each of Middle Earth’s cultures and charted the One Ring’s journey with an exhilarating flourish.

Upon its 2001 arrival, Shore’s score, composed for large symphony orchestra, adult and boys choruses, and instrumental and vocal soloists, was proclaimed an instant classic. Now the massive composition makes an unprecedented move to the concert hall. On May 21 and 22, the Filene Center Orchestra, under the direction of Ludwig Wicki, with the City Choir of Washington and the World Children’s Choir will present the American Premiere of Shore’s entire 3-hour score to The Fellowship of the Ring live to the projected film in high definition.

"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."
-Howard Shore

The music of The Lord of the Rings is counted among film music’s most complex and comprehensive works. Howard Shore’s score interconnects dozens of recurring themes to create a world as rich and thoroughly realized as the story that inspired it. This unique performance sets the score to the film, but allows the music to bear the narrative weight, creating a wholly new and dramatic live concert experience.