Due to overwhelming demand, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring — In Concert has added a third performance on Saturday evening, March 14, 2026, at Chicago's landmark Auditorium. Celebrating the film's 25th anniversary, the live cinematic concert returns to the Chicago area for the first time in eight years following its last performances at the Ravinia Festival. Howard Shore's Academy and Grammy Award-winning score will be presented live in concert, accompanying the complete epic motion picture projected beneath a 60-foot screen. The performance features 238 musicians, including a full symphony orchestra, chorus, and soloists. Confirmed to be onstage to bring Tolkien's story to life are conductor Maestro Ben Phelps, Soloist Imogen Parry, FILMharmonique Orchestra, and Uniting Voices Choruses. Performances now take place Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, 2026, including the newly added Saturday evening performance.

Presented by CAMI Music, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring — In Concert follows more than 15 years of sold-out performances worldwide and offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience Tolkien's world on a grand, immersive scale.

The live performances of Howard Shore's score are unmatched in the movie-going experience. The iconic score has been voted No. 1 in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

"There's probably never been as ambitious a film score as Howard Shore's 10-hour epic for the Lord of the Rings series," wrote Stephen Brookes for The Washington Post. "Lush, beautiful and full of intriguing surprises, it's no wonder that it's become one of the most popular film scores ever written."

The epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings — The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003), directed by Peter Jackson and based on the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien novels, became an international phenomenon, winning a total of 17 Academy Awards.

Howard Shore received Academy Awards for Original Score for The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King, as well as Original Song for "Into the West." Howard Shore commented on the return to Chicago: "The Lord of the Rings has been translated into 40 languages and has attracted a global fan base, but the fan community doesn't often have the opportunity to come together in person and coalesce around a performance at this high level. There is something unique and powerful that happens — a synergy is created in bringing together the music live on a large scale, with the films, in a magnificent house."

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Friday, March 13, 2026 — 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 14, 2026 — 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 14, 2026 — 7:30 p.m. (Newly added performance)

ABOUT THE AUDITORIUM

The Auditorium, located at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, is an Illinois not-for-profit organization committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community, and educational programming to all of Chicago and beyond as The Theatre for the People. The organization is also committed to the continued restoration and preservation of this National Historic Landmark that originally opened in 1889. For more information on The Auditorium please visit  AuditoriumTheatre.org.

HOWARD SHORE, COMPOSER

Howard Shore is one of today's premier composers whose music is performed in concert halls around the world by the most prestigious orchestras and conductors. Shore's work with Peter Jackson on The Lord of the Rings earned him three Academy Awards, four Grammys, and two Golden Globes as well as numerous critic and festival awards. He has scored over 100 films including seventeen films by David Cronenberg and six by Martin Scorsese. His concert works include a symphony, an opera, a Latin mass, three concertos, two song cycles and more. He is an Officier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la France, the recipient of Canada's Governor General's Performing Arts Award and is an officer of the Order of Canada.

ABOUT CAMI MUSIC

Merging the worlds of live event production and artist management, Columbia Artists Music LLC (CAMI Music) has swiftly become an international leader in the performing arts. CAMI Music specializes in the general management and touring of prominent musicians and performing artists, as well as providing production and consultation services for large-scale events and festivals worldwide. Recognizing the global stature of the performing arts, CAMI Music has allied many of its Artists and Events with distinguished global brands through endorsement and sponsorship opportunities.

Established in 2004 by Ronald A. Wilford, Founder, and CEO of Columbia Artists Management, and Jean-Jacques Cesbron, then EVP of Columbia Artists Management, CAMI Music is an independently owned and operated management company. CAMI Music's dedicated booking department specializes in the fulfillment of the roster's touring specifications while satisfying the demand for performances around the world.