Academy Reveals Details of Oscar Concert: Musical Suites, Q&As and Songs

Live event at Royce Hall will showcase the nominated scores and songs — and tickets won’t be cheap

A few hours after announcing that all four of this year’s Best Original Song nominees will be performed on the Oscar show, the Academy has released details of an “Oscar Concert” that will be devoted to the music nominees three nights before the Oscars.

The concert, which was initially announced last year, will include performances of suites from the five nominated scores, conducted by their composers. Prior to the performances, the composers will have conversations with film critic Elvis Mitchell on the stage of UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Participants will include the Arcade Fire’s William Butler and Owen Pallett, who wrote the score to “Her”; Alexandre Desplat, who wrote “Philomena”; Thomas Newman, nominated for “Saving Mr. Banks”; Steven Price, who composed the score to “Gravity”; and John Williams, who received his 49th nomination – a record for a living person – for “The Book Thief.”

Also read: Karen O To Perform ‘Her’ Song on Oscars

An Academy press release said that the show will also feature the year’s nominated songs. Composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez will perform the song “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” while Jill Scott will perform “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2” in place of the song’s composer, Pharrell Wiliams, who will perform it on the Oscar show.

The other two songs are “Ordinary Love,” written by U2 for “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” and “The Moon Song,” written by Karen O and Spike Jonze for “Her.” While details on those performances have yet to be announced, U2 singer Bono told TheWrap this week that the first band performance of “Ordinary Love” will take place on the Oscars.

Also read: U2 to Perform ‘Ordinary Love’ on the Oscars

According to the AMPAS release, details on the other song performances will be announced on www.oscars.com.

While most of the events during the Academy’s week-long “Oscar Week” celebration will be free or will only cost $5, the Oscar Concert is significantly more expensive. Tickets are $100 and $75, and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com.

When the Oscar Concert was announced last fall, many Oscar watchers speculated that it would give the show’s producers a reason not to feature the nominated music on the Oscar show. But with nominations going to songs performed by such heavyweights as U2, Pharrell and Broadway star Idina Menzel, the music will now receive a double showcase during Oscar week.

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