In addition to the hoopla of Sunday night’s Oscar broadcast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will also present a live concert tonight to celebrate this year’s nominated scores and songs. The event will be held at UCLA’s Royce Hall with each nominated composer conducting an 80-piece orchestra. Guests will hear the nominated scores composed by John Williams (The Book Thief), Arcade Fire’s William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her), Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks), Steven Price (Gravity), and Alexandre Desplat (Philomena).
Additionally all four nominated songs will be performed, which means this entire concert may just be an elaborate ploy to hear Frozen’s “Let It Go” one extra time. The other nominated songs are “Happy” from Despicable Me 2, “The Moon Song” from Her, and “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. And while Idina Menzel, Pharrell Williams, Karen O, and U2 will perform the nominated songs at the Oscars, the more generic-sounding “various artists” are slated to perform at the concert.
Although this inaugural concert won’t be televised, Charles Fox, the governor of the academy’s music branch says the plan is to make the program an annual event broadcast on TV and in movie theaters. Which will be music to the ears of film score buffs everywhere.