The 88th Academy Awards ceremony was held last night. Among the music-related highlights was Ennio Morricone receiving his first competitive Oscar for his music for The Hateful Eight and Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes who won the award for the song Writing’s on the Wall from Spectre. Check out the acceptance speeches by the winners, as well as a backstage press room interview with Smith & Napes after the jump. Also embedded are the live performances of the winning song by Smith, and two of the other nominated songs, Til It Happens to You from The Hunting Ground by Lady Gaga, and Earned It from Fifty Shades of Grey by The Weeknd.The ceremony also featured a performance of Blackbird by Dave Grohl, was was sung over the In Memoriam segment, which featured a mention of James Horner as the only composer/songwriter during the montage. Danny Elfman composed the original music for the animated intro at the opening of the show and was also in attendance at the ceremony. John Williams received a shoutout during an appearance of characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the Oscar stage. After three years of the Oscar orchestra having moved off-site to Capitol Records, it was back at the Dolby theater, where it was lead by the show’s music director Harold Wheeler.
(Higher quality videos will be added to this page soon)
Ennio Morricone accepting his first competitive Academy Award:
Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes accepting their first Academy Award:
Press room interview with Oscar winners Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes:
Writing’s on the Wall performed by Sam Smith:
Til It Happens to You performed by Lady Gaga:
Earned It performed by The Weeknd:
Blackbird performed by Dave Grohl:
