. The founder members were (left to right) Mads Thiemann, Caspar Reiff, Mette Tjærby, Ole Norup &
Signe Asmussen. The goal set by the two composers, Reiff and Hall, was to create the world's first complete musical interpretation of
the poems from
J. R. R. Tolkien's "masterpiece"
The Lord of the Rings. The ensemble, which was to form the base of this vision, was named 'The Tolkien Ensemble' — entirely devoted to the works of Tolkien. The ensemble first took shape with a group of invited musicians in January 1996 at the
Royal Danish Academy of Music. The founder members (other than Reiff and Hall) were Mads Thiemann, Mette Tjærby, Ole Norup &
Signe Asmussen. A number of concerts followed. Notably, in a 1998 concert in
Oxford, the audience included members of the Tolkien family, to the ensemble's delight. , who had played
Saruman in
Peter Jackson's
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, performed on
At Dawn in Rivendell and went on tour with the ensemble. Interest in
The Lord of the Rings grew dramatically in 2001 when
Peter Jackson started to release his films of Tolkien's books. The Tolkien Ensemble was invited to take part in the Danish premiere of the first film in the
Jackson's trilogy:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Among the celebrities representing the film in Copenhagen was the actor
Christopher Lee, who played the traitorous wizard
Saruman. The Tolkien Ensemble invited him to take part in their third album,
At Dawn in Rivendell, partly as narrator and partly as singer of
Treebeard's songs. Lee's cooperation, combined with the growing interest for the work of Tolkien, resulted in a huge success for the album. It was released in 22 countries, was widely played by radio stations, and received excellent reviews.
The International Herald Tribune called it "Total
Lord of the Rings magic!"
At Dawn in Rivendell later sold well worldwide. The cooperation with Lee developed to include concerts. In the autumn of 2002, Lee took part in a release concert at
Tivoli Concert Hall. Then followed a major tour of, among other countries, England and Sweden, culminating in the summer of 2003 when the ensemble gave a concert in Denmark for an audience including HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and
Prince Henrik of Denmark. The ensemble toured Europe in 2007, combining their own works with soundtrack pieces from
Howard Shore's soundtrack to the film trilogy as well as live narration by Lee. The release of the four-CD-box in 2006 marked the completion of more than ten years' work and the attainment of the ensemble's goal: the release of their
Complete Songs & Poems from
The Lord of the Rings. More than 150 professional musicians participated in the effort. The four-CD-box is dedicated to the memory of J.R.R. Tolkien, to
The Tolkien Society in Oxford, and to the millions of people for whom
The Lord of the Rings has a special place in their hearts. ==Reception==