Academy Award-nominated composers take centre stage at inaugural Oscar Concert

Composers behind the scores for Academy Award-nominated movies Gravity, Her, Philomena, Saving Mr. Banks and The Book Thief were given their chance to shine on Thursday (27Feb14) at the first ever Oscar Concert. Best Original Score nominees William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her), Alexandre Desplat (Philomena), Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks), Steven Price (Gravity), and John Williams (The Book Thief) were invited to take to the stage at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Royce Hall, three days before Hollywood’s big night, to conduct and direct their works in full.
During the special show, which was hosted by rapper/actor Common, five-time Oscar winner Williams was given a round of applause as he declared, “(Movies) wouldn’t be what they are and couldn’t be made without the service of a great orchestra.”
The Best Original Song nominees were also performed, with Jill Scott taking on Pharrell Williams’ Happy from Despicable 2, and composer Kristen Anderson-Lopez taking on Idina Menzel’s vocals on Frozen’s Let It Go.
The Wolf of Wall Street actress Cristin Milioti covered Karen O’s The Moon Song from Her, while former The Voice contestant Matt Carmanski belted out U2’s Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Each of the artists behind the nominations for Best Original Song will take to the stage at Sunday’s (02Mar14) Oscars in Hollywood.