The University of Ghent, which has one of the largest undergraduate student bodies in Europe (40,000), is honoring well-known composer Howard Shore with a week-long retrospective from May 1st-7th entitled Seven Evenings With Howard Shore. They have selected seven of his best-known films, including Vid eodrome, Dead Ringers, The Silence Of The Lambs, Naked Lunch, Ed Wood, Crash and Seven, and Shore will be present from May 4th-8th to speak following the screenings. Interestingly enough, the program was instituted by the philosophy department, headed by Dr. Jo Smets, a senior professor at the University of Ghent.
"Mr. Shore’s body of work is so unique and provocative; we wanted to offer a mix of Shore’s Cronenberg scores, with an accent on the ‘Mark of the Dark,’" stated Dr. Smets. "He is one of the most overwhelming musical minds to ever hit the film music scene, and we are honored by his presence," he continued.
Shore, one of the cinema’s most celebrated composers, has collaborated with Jonathan Demme on such hits as Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia and David Cronenberg on 9 films, including The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly and Crash. He is also known for a wide range of other provocative and innovative scores, including Kevin Smith’s Dogma, David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, and Harold Ramis’ Analyze This, as well as the comedic blockbusters Mrs. Doubtfire and Big. His most recent film score for Stephen Frears, High Fidelity, starring John and Joan Cusak, is one of the best-reviewed films of this year.
Shore will also have two films screening in the main competition at The Cannes Film Festival: the upcoming Miramax release The Yards, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron, screening on May 20th, and the French period drama, Esther Kahn, starring Summer Phoenix, directed by Arnaud Desplechin and distributed internationally by Bac Films, screening on May 19th. Shore will be on hand in Cannes for the screenings of both films.