A genuinely amazing achievement.
Irish conductor Eimear Noone will become the first woman to lead the Oscars orchestra at the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony.
The Galway-born woman will conduct excerpts from the five nominated scores, although it is not yet clear whether the scores will be presented as a medley or separately.
The Oscars gig is the latest in a lengthy list of achievements for Noone, who took to Twitter to celebrate the news, thanking the producers of the award ceremony for the opportunity.
Thanks to visionary producers Stephanie Allain and Lynette Howell Taylor @TheAcademy and the incredible Rickey Minor, genius music director for the Oscars for inviting me to perform at the Oscars 2020! https://t.co/xh3VzoS0z7 pic.twitter.com/TAowbcYHGy
— Eimear Noone (@eimearnoone) January 23, 2020
Speaking to Variety after the news was announced Noone said: “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 continued: “It’s an honour to be there, to help normalise something that I do every day. Little girls everywhere will see this and say, ‘I think I’ll do that.’ That’s what we want.”
The Oscars will not have a host this year, following the success of last year’s ceremony, and Noone’s presence is bound to increase Irish interest in the event. Now all we need is a win for Saoirse Ronan…
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