Eímear Noone Will Be the First Female Conductor at the Oscars

The Oscars are getting their first female conductor at the 2020 ceremony!

Eímear Noone, an award-winning Irish composer and conductor, is set to conduct excerpts from the five nominated scores at the 2020 Oscars.

She recently spoke with Variety about being chosen to conduct the legendary award ceremony.

"The wonderful producers at the Oscars decided that they would like to finally see a female presence on the podium after all these years," she said.

"I'd be dead inside if I didn't have any concerns," she said. "Luckily for me, I have friends in the orchestra and I have friends on the page in front of me. The background changes, but the little black dots on the page are always home for me. No matter what country I'm in or what concert hall, it doesn't matter - the score is where my mind and my heart are."

Read more on Variety.

Noone has composed extensively for films and video games. She is responsible for some of the most enduring soundscapes on World of Warcraft and other best-selling videogames. She has conducted orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, Pittsburg Symphony and The Philadelphia orchestras and has worked on scores for directors such as Gus Van Sant and Joe Dante, orchestrating for Oscar nominee Javier Navarrette (composer of Pan's Labyrinth) creating haunting music for thrillers Mirrors and The Hole. Eímear founded a major European game music festival in Ireland and is an advocate for and mentor to creative women in tech and music.