How did you get involved with the Oscars?

I’ve been writing music for the orchestra for years. Marc Shaiman was the musical director and he doesn’t conduct, so in 2008, he asked me to come along because I had done the orchestrations for Hairspray on Broadway. We had a great relationship, so that began this whole trail of Oscars.

What was your first conducting experience like?

I thought it was going to be simple because I had conducted the Emmys®, the People’s Choice Awards and the Grammys®.

Everybody kept saying, “This is the one. This is the one.” It was more nerve-wracking because it’s the Oscars: it’s the granddaddy of all the awards shows.

How do you prepare for the show?

We can’t recreate the music until we know who the nominees are. We don’t know who the presenters are at that time either, and we try not to use music from different years.

So we don’t get to start writing until after nominations are out.

Then, for the next month, it’s full-steam ahead.

I write the music with a team of three other people. I make the decisions as to what everybody writes. Then it’s three weeks until show day from the time we’re in here for the first orchestra rehearsals.

There are 134 pieces of music that go into the show.

That includes going into commercial, coming out of commercial, all of the presenter play-ons and then, of course, all of the categories. It’s a ton of music.

Harold at the 82nd Oscars in 2010.

What part of the show gets you most excited?

The adrenaline comes in the third hour because that’s when you think you’re home free and when you’re prone to making a mistake. The last 20 minutes is the scariest part because it’s almost over, but it’s not over. And those 20 minutes also include the biggest awards.

What does it feel like to have to play winners off when speeches go on too long?

Every year, as the show gets further into the bewitching hour, the producers are looking at the clock. For the awardee, it’s their moment. They don’t look at it as if it’s a three-hour show and they have to keep it short. Since I’m down in the orchestra, when the music starts, they look at me.

I don’t make that decision. The director says to me, “It’s gone on a little long, Harold. Stand by.” And then he says, “Play them off,” and I start playing. What can I do?

In years past, the music has been streamed live from Capitol Studios into the Dolby through fiber-optic cables. This year, you’re back in-house. What’s the difference between the two experiences?

I prefer being at the Dolby, simply because you have a greater pulse of what’s going on in the show.

You have the audience there behind you, and you can feel their energy.

You don’t feel that looking at a monitor here.

I’ve done it at Capitol Studios three times. The biggest difference is that I don’t have to put my tuxedo jacket on until they say, “Your camera shot’s coming up.” That’s when I put my jacket on and tighten my tie up.

The same thing goes for the rest of the orchestra. Some of them have jeans on and just a jacket because nobody’s going to see what’s down here when we’re at Capitol. In the pit, people can look right down.

Do you get to pick your players?

I handpick all of them. I did 17 seasons as musical director on Dancing with the Stars and I fell in love with my orchestra there. I will take them wherever I go when I can. So when I put the orchestra together, they are the first 18 players. Then I pick the others. This year, there are 45.