Berklee Today: Ryan Shore '96

This Grammy-nominated film composer has big shoes to fill, but is up to the challenge.
July 9, 2012

It's the day after the 2012 Grammy Awards broadcast, and composer Ryan Shore is wide awake-even though he has had only two hours' sleep. His score for the movie The Shrine earned him his first Grammy nomination, and he attended the broadcast and the after-show parties that stretched into the wee hours.

Ultimately the Grammy for best score soundtrack for visual media went home with Alexandre Desplat, who scored The King's Speech. But Shore is far from dismayed. Admittedly, the competition was stiff, with The Shrine going up against Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Black Swan. "I was blown away just by the nomination," Shore says. "It's already created changes for my career, and I couldn't be happier."

Since his childhood, Shore has followed in the footsteps of his uncle, Academy Award-winning film composer Howard Shore '69. "Growing up, I was very aware of what Howard was doing," the younger Shore says. "I took up saxophone at 11—he plays the same instrument. I came to Berklee because Howard had studied there. He was a huge inspiration for me."

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