Like the hundreds of movie scores that Canadian Howard Shore has composed, his Canada 150 theme captures the energy and emotion that has been our country's 150 years of nation building. Shore is one of today's most talented and respected composers. His music is performed in concert halls around the world and is heard in cinemas across the globe.
Shore's musical interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative world in the films of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have enthralled people of all generations. This work stands as his most acclaimed composition to date awarding him with three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes as well as numerous critics' and festival awards.
He is an Officier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la France and has also received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in Canada. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures honored Howard Shore with an award for Career Achievement for Music Composition and the City of Vienna bestowed him with the Max Steiner Award.
Shore was one of the creators of Saturday Night Live and served as musical director from 1975 – 1980. At the same time, he began scoring films including for filmmaker David Cronenberg works, including The Fly, Crash and Naked Lunch.
He earned Canadian Screen Awards for Maps to the Stars for score and Cosmopolis for both score and song; his original scores to A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises and Dead Ringers were each honoured with a Genie Award.
In recent years, Shore has composed the music for four Martin Scorsese films, including The Aviator (for which he won his third Golden Globe Award) and Gangs of New York. His other noteworthy film scores include Ed Wood, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Mrs. Doubtfire. His most recently wrote the score for Tom McCarthy's Academy Award-winning Film Spotlight.
Internationally renowned soprano Measha Brueggergosman began singing in the choir of the local Baptist Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She pursued both vocal and piano lessons and, in her teens, attended music camp in Rothesay, New Brunswick, and through scholarships, summer programs at the Boston Conservatory. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Toronto, and then received a Master of Music from Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Brueggergosman performed with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, then won the lead role in Beatrice Chancy (1998) an opera about an enslaved African-Canadian woman in 19th-century Nova Scotia.
Brueggergosman's powerful performances have earned her much international recognition and she has performed with the world's most prolific classical artists - from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa to the Cincinnati Opera and the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn. Her 2005 performance in Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Bolcom garnered three Grammy Awards and Best Classical Album. Other awards include the Montreal International Musical Competition, the International Music Competition in Munich and the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo. She has two Juno nominations, winning in 2008 for Classical Album of the Year. Brueggergosman performed at the Toronto International Film Festival and at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
With a background in television and documentary filmmaking, Elizabeth Cotnoir has been collaborating with Howard Shore for several decades. A gifted lyricist, she has provided the words for "Sea to Sea", commissioned by the NBYO as part of its Canada 150 project. Previously she has written lyrics for Howard Shore’s song cycle “A Palace Upon the Ruins” performed by Jennifer Johnson Cano for the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, an aria for Opera America entitled “La Tour” as well as writing lyrics for “Seven Pieces” which premiered in April 2014 at the National Theatre in Dublin Ireland performed by the RTé Orchestra and soprano Clara Sanabras. They also co-wrote the song, “Coeur Volant,” with French singer Zaz, for Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award nominated film Hugo, for which Shore’s score was also nominated. Earlier collaborations include the score from Al Pacino’s documentary on Richard III, entitled Looking for Richard where Cotnoir provided Latin texture for Shore’s Shakespearian score.
We raise our voices as one.
Joining our voices together.
Sing of the beauty of this our great land,
the land that we love.
Our love of this land is true.
This is our place of belonging.
Our love of country lives within our hearts
this place we call home.
Step by step, we rise.
Note by note, our songs will open hearts
and honor those who came before us,
dreamers of our Canada.
Embrace the future
with open eyes and hearts.
Pride of our people,
who came from four directions.
Our time is now,
the time to be free.
Forigve the past and be free.
We are the ones of tomorrow
sharing our gift of love with the world.
We will greet the morning sunrise.
Eagles fly in the East.
In the stillness of the North,
Warmed by the Southern sun,
strawberries ripen to fullness.
In the west, the bear protects
the home of the dreamers
who dream the beautiful dream.
In the stillness of the North,
we hold a vision.
Harsh winds of winter
met with strength and courage.
We hold a vision.
Nous unissons nos voix.
Joining our voices together.
Louons la beauté de ce grand pays
que nous aimons tant.
L’amour pour cette terre est vrai.
Car c’est notre lieu d’appartenance.
L’amour du pays vit dans notre cœur,
il est notre maison.
Pas à pas, we rise.
Note après note, our song will open hearts
to dreaming of our future promise,
où nous nous faisons confiance.
Accueillons l’avenir,
coeurs et yeux ouverts.
Fierté de notre peuple issue
des quatre coins du monde.
Voici le temps de la vérité.
Forgive the past and be free.
We are the ones of tomorrow.
Partageons cet amour avec le monde.
