Oscar 2026: what to expect (musically) from the ceremony

Only a few hours left until 98th Academy Awards and, for us who live by bpm and frequencies, the atmosphere at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood has never been so electric. It’s not just cinema: the Italian night between Sunday 15th and Monday 16th March 2026 promises to be one of the most “sounding” ceremonies of recent decades. While the conductor Conan O’Brien warm up your engines (hoping he takes up his trusty guitar for a few interludes), here’s what we can expect from a musical point of view.

Best Original Score

The category for Best Original Score This year it feels like an avant-garde festival. The absolute favorite is Ludwig Göransson for “Sinners” (the record-breaking film with 16 nominations), which created a soundscape capable of blending tension and blues/soul. There are names competing for the statuette that make your wrists tremble.

Johnny Greenwood (“One Battle After Another”): Radiohead’s multi-instrumentalist returns with an edgy and ingenious orchestral score in Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece; Max Richter (“Hamnet”): a neoclassical and emotional composition that has already won over critics; Alexandre Desplat (“Frankenstein”): The French master brings a Gothic elegance that could crush the competition. Jerskin Fendrix (“Bugonia”): the experimental outsider, Lanthimos’ protégé, who plays with disturbing and alien sounds.

The Best Song

If the Best Original Score category is for purists, the one for the Best song it’s a clash of worlds. On the one hand we have the global phenomenon of HUNTR/X with “Golden” (from “KPop Demon Hunters”), a song that dominated the charts and which will bring to the stage a choreographic fusion between traditional Korean instruments and futuristic pop; on the other, the deep blues of “I Lied to You” from “Sinners”, written by Raphael Saadiq and Göransson himself.

The live performance promises to be legendary: a mega-jam session that will see icons such as Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey And Alice Smith. And then there’s her, the inevitable one Diane Warrenhis umpteenth nomination with “Dear Me”, performed for the occasion by Kesha. Will Warren finally be able to break the curse?

The top five is completed by none other than Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner (“Train Dreams”) and the “Sweet Dreams of Joy” by Nicholas Pike. So only two of the nominated songs will have a full choreographed performance; a choice that made fans of Nick Cave and those of the “Viva Verdi!” soundtrack turn up their noses.

The moment In Memoriam

Other moments of the 2026 Oscars award ceremony will be accompanied by the presence of Josh Groban and of Los Angeles Master Choraleconfirmed as guests on stage after last year’s participation. Most likely the choristers will accompany the memory of the artists who passed away during the last cinema season, the “In Memoriam” moment of the evening.