The music of video games is developing and there is no doubt about that. One of the series that helped the industry move forward is Final Fantasy. Music from this franchise became so popular that we nowadays experience concert performances of Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy all around the ...
On September 26, 2009, the concert A Night in Fantasia 2009 occurred at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia. It featured orchestral performances of a wide range of animes and games in what intended to be a definitive interactive musical experience. It was actually my first orchestra experience, but the content material ...
Boston's Symphony Hall is an imposing edifice, built like a temple in the era in which music was treated as a kind of sacred ritual. The interior greets its visitors with corridors lined with pictures of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's history, and although they are not terribly narrow, surrounding the ...
Calling All Dawns has been hailed as composer Christopher Tin’s greatest work, and is a very accomplished modern song cycle, touching on such themes as human unity, the commonality of the human experience, and the joy of life throughout the world. By combining elegant musical motifs with a choir driven tour ...
Funnily enough, I never grew with a NES. As a consequence, I pretty much missed the whole Castlevania series (with the exception of Super Castlevania IV and the Game Boy games) until the mid 2000s, and therefore, being also quite unfamiliar to its music; this changed when I started collecting VGM and ...
A unique and memorable event ...
May 10, 2004: 3:00 PM - My sister and I hop on the Metro Red Line from Hollywood en-route to downtown Los Angeles. Incidentally, don't believe any hype you might hear about Hollywood — there is only about a block-and-a-half of anything worth seeing. The Chinese Theatre and the Wax Museum ...
Eminence's Destiny - Reunion tour features a piano quintet covering music from both games and anime. While Eminence has put on many productions throughout Japan and Australia, Destiny - Reunion recently allowed Eminence to bring a show to the United States for the first time at the Otakon 2007 convention in Baltimore, Maryland. This ...
Since my first exposure to Distant Worlds in July 2010 at Wolf Trap's beautiful outdoor Filene Center, I have been eager to hear the music of the Final Fantasy concert series performed in a more traditional orchestral venue. This weekend, I had the opportunity to do so, twice, at the Brooklyn Academy ...
Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy has been going on for a few years now, with an ever-growing and always-rotating repertoire. However, the most recent show for the tour was a special affair, given that it was the only official concert to celebrate the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary in North ...
This past weekend, Distant Worlds returned to Baltimore after a two-year absence from The Charm City. With 32,000 otaku already in town for the weekend to attend Otakon, it was a foregone conclusion that the diehard fan contingent (and cosplay contingent!) would be out in force. What wasn't known was the list ...
Final Fantasy. It was the impetus that introduced me to the world of video game music, as I'm sure it was for lots of people, but as I've learned more about video game music, I find myself listening to it less and less, only giving the most recent soundtracks a ...
As I mentioned in my Baltimore report, Final Fantasy was the game series that really ignited my interest in game music. Even though I rarely listen to the music from this series these days, only revisiting classic favorites and listening to new releases, the words Final Fantasy really help ignite ...
I arrived at the concert late! As I made my way hurriedly through the great entrance of the Rosemont Theatre near Chicago, Illinois, I could hear the pulsing low strings that are the beginning of "Liberi Fatali". The choir was building in intensity as I raced to get to my ...
Britain doesn't normally get priority when it comes to video game music concerts, despite having loads of fans, and some of the best venues in the world. Before September 2011, the only video game music concert to grace the London stage was Video Games Live, which hasn't returned to London since ...
E3 2015 was like a fan fiction gone wild for many Square Enix fans, and the Distant Worlds concert during the second night of the show was like the proverbial kupo nut on top of a delectable JRPG sundae. Even conductor Arnie Roth couldn’t help but mention the “big news” coming ...
I’m not entirely sure how the organizers behind Distant Worlds – Music from Final Fantasy were able to pull off two shows in a single day at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, but I’m really grateful they did. The renowned videogame orchestral concert played its 103rd and 104th performances ...
On December 4, 2007, I attended the world premiere of Distant Worlds - Music from Final Fantasy at the Stockholm Concert Hall. First, I have to say, this was the best musical event I've ever been to, and one of the best days in my life. The whole day had been fantastic, ...
I recently attended the Saturday night Distant Worlds concert in Houston - the July 23 (Saturday) evening performance. This was my first time seeing the acclaimed Final Fantasy-themed concert tour, so I didn’t know what to expect short of what I’d heard from their albums. We have reviewed Distant Worlds several times ...
On Saturday June 12, 2010, I had the pleasure of attending the premiere of Distant Worlds II - More Music from Final Fantasy at the world famous Stockholm Konserthuset. Performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Arnie Roth, the concert aimed to be the most definitive symphonic commemoration ...
I recently attended Distant Worlds--Music from FINAL FANTASY in Durham, NC. Although Distant Worlds was launched over 10 years ago to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise, this marked the first time Distant Worlds had performed in Durham--and it was an excellent way to begin. First off, ...
On April 30, 2010, I attended the second of two concerts of Fantasy Comes Alive, a chamber orchestral rendition of music from Video Games and Anime. Organised by veterans of Eminence, Fantasy Comes Alive is one of the biggest celebrations of music-for-visuals to have occurred in the cultural hotspot of Singapore. Though heavily ...
The Leipzig concert of 2007 was undoubtedly a major event. It had the biggest production values the series had ever seen, with its 110 piece orchestra and choir, nine soloists, and eleven composers being invited as guests of honour. It was greatly anticipated by many a people from day one ...
On August 23, 2009, the first ever orchestral concert dedicated to Final Fantasy VI was performed in the Minato Mirai Hall of Yokohama, Japan. One might wonder why Square Enix decided to finally stage an orchestral performance for FFVI, 15 years after the game's original release on Super Famicom and three years ...
Eleven years since its launch, Square Enix's MMORPG Final Fantasy XI continues to be enjoyed by many subscribers and has left quite a legacy. On November 11, 2011 (11.11.11), the franchise celebrated its anniversary with a special concert at Katsushika Symphony Hills' Mozart Hall in Tokyo. It featured performances from the Tokyo ...
On August 27, 2005, I was able to attend the Final Fantasy XI Summer Carnival 2005, which featured a live concert from The Star Onions, who I was able to meet, and also premiered a new composition by Uematsu, sung by Izumi Masuda. It also showed the semi-final and final ...
Last Saturday (August 29, 2015) I had the chance to see the world premiere of the Final Symphony II concert in Bonn, Germany. After the huge success of the first Final Symphony concert in 2013, Thomas Böcker, Jonne Valtonen, and Roger Wanamo from Spielemusikkonzerte (aka Merregnon Studios) took on the challenge ...
A phenomenal, more light-hearted follow up to Final Symphony ...
Background and Pre-Concert Thomas Böcker’s recent concerts have been a major breakthrough in exploring video game music artistically, taking a wealth of fantastic compositions from the best video games have to offer and creating elaborate musical journeys. These concerts have captivated audiences around the world from Germany to Japan to ...
An orchestral concert tour featuring music from a new hit score co-composed by Nobuo Uematsu ...
On April 20, 2008 at Shinjuku Bunka Center, Tokyo, Capcom presented a 90 minute concert featuring orchestral performances of music from their Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney series. After two years planning, tickets were sold out the day it was announced and there was a fantastic fan reaction during the ...
On April 20, 2008, Capcom organised the ultimate live event for fans of the Phoenix Wright series,Gyakuten Saiban Orchestra Concert ~Gyakuten Meets Orchestra~. It featured the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performing a selection of suites from cross the series, specially orchestrated by Noriyuki Iwadare. While many of the items were taken ...
The amount of things one can do at MAGFest is seemingly limitless; nevertheless the concerts tend to be its biggest draw. After all, what’s a music and gaming festival without a chiptune artist or band blasting us with loud videogame music? MAGFest 13 ran from Jan. 23 - 26 this ...
Processing MAGfest after the event – particularly for a first-time attendee – is not easy. I had a rather naïve plan to take notes at the end of each day so I could properly document everything as it happened, but in actuality the sheer volume of events really only gave ...
Our highly anticipated first presence at MAGFest was a bit shorthanded due to a sudden illness. Nevertheless, I did my best to fill in for the absentees and enjoy the festivities for myself. With 6100 people in attendance, MAGFest X combined game rooms with musical performances, guest speakers, and, of course, a ...
On September 14, 2003, Nintendo hosted the Mario & Zelda Big Band Live at the Nihon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo. It featured performances of Mario and Zelda favourites arranged for big band, acoustic ensembles, and soloists in jazz, latin, bluegrass, and other styles. It also featured talk sessions between host Ashura Benimaru ...
Following the success of the Gyakuten Saiban Orchestra Concert, sound director Tetsuya Shibata decided it was time that the hugely popular Monster Hunter series was commemorated with a fifth anniversary orchestral concert. The concert occurred at May 6, 2009 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro and featured 13 suites ...
Fortunately, I didn't live too far away from Los Angeles and the Universal (now Gibson) Amphitheater, so I drove over to the theater. Encountering heavy rush-hour traffic (which LA is notorious for), I finally arrived to the esteemed Universal CityWalk, home of Universal Studios and a huge outlet of restaurants ...
On July 19, 2003, Motoi Sakuraba commemorated his game music with a live concert at Zepp Tokyo to rave reviews. He carefully selected represented tracks from Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile, and arranged them for his all-time favourite ensemble — synthesizer, electric bass, and drums — in the most supreme way possible ...
A report on the New Japan BGM Philharmonic's performance of music by Sunsoft and Yuzo Koshiro.* ...
With the announcement back in October that Microsoft would be presenting a concert featuring Nobuo Uematsu's music from Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, many fans experienced a combination of excitement and curiosity. Many changes have occurred since Uematsu visited the Bunkamura Orchard Hall two years ago with the Tour de Japon series, including the launch ...
I arrived at Sydney's Conservatorium of Music at about 7:15pm where there was a queue outside of people who were buying 'at the door' tickets. There was nothing much to do, seeing that I preordered my ticket nearly a month prior to the event, so I made my way inside ...
Introduction Back when PLAY! A Video Game Symphony was announced, I was mildly intrigued, but didn't plan on attending unless they came to my home state of Colorado. My family had already considered me completely insane for flying out to see three Dear Friends - Music From Final Fantasy concerts in the last two ...
Wednesday April 23, 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic — the day that will go down in history as the dayPLAY! A Video Game Symphony blessed this little backwater country in the heart of Europe with it's presence. Two weeks prior to the concert one of my friends stumbled upon an annoucement ...
A concert celebration of everything Pokemon ...
As someone who had long fallen out of touch with the Pokémon series, Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions has managed to reignite that youthful spark with a fearsome jolt of wonderfully crafted orchestral arrangements. The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses series of concerts proved to be a massive success, so it ...
With Press Start 2006 having been a huge success, Famitsu held another concert on September 17, 2007, with the aim of taking it up a notch. The changes were immediately evident upon reaching the Pacifico Yokohama Theater. Not only was the venue nicely situated within walking distance to the Yokohama Ports and ...
Japan. The country of video games. The land of video game music concerts. Not quite. Although the idea of presenting video game music in the elegant ambience of classical concert halls originated there in the late 80s, peaking with the famous Orchestral Game Concerts from 1991-1996, it took more than ...
It may appear that Press Start 2009 didn't create as much attention as the Press Start 2008. The tickets for last year's concert sold out in only four or so hours with the sentential guest line up hinted by Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In contrast, some tickets of the 2009 concert were still available ...
A hero's story told through narrative and orchestration ...
On October 30, 2010, Emi Evans and I were invited to Shinzoku Kaigi Vol. 5, a Dog Ear Records event held at Shibuya Duo Music Exchange, a venue in the heart of Shibuya in Tokyo. The night had a bunch of large acts — certainly some of the most ambitious to ...
As a long time Silent Hill fan, with the franchise being responsible for getting me into music appreciation and composition myself, you can fathom my level of excitement the moment I heard that Akira Yamaoka would be playing live in the UK, and more importantly in Manchester where I live ...
Video game music concerts have become a bit of a tradition in Sweden. Stockholm's Konserthuset venue has repeatedly hosted the PLAY! A Video Game Symphony and Distant Worlds - Music from Fantasy concerts, has witnessed the recording of the orchestral Distant Worlds CD, and has welcomed game music celebrities like Nobuo Uematsu, Akira Yamaoka, and Chris ...
I can still remember when Chris told me about an upcoming concert celebrating the works of Square Enix. It was sometime in December 2008, well before the concert was announced to the public. At the time, all that was mentioned was that there would be a free meet and greet ...
Introduction Welcome to my comprehensive report of the concert Symphonic Fantasies - Music from Square Enix. Given we were given exclusive backstage access to the concert, the first two parts of the report are dedicated to detailing my experiences with the team. The remainder of the report provides a review of ...
Another awesome concert ...
Experiencing a legendary concert again seven years after it's debut ...
On September 23, 2010, Symphonic Legends celebrated the rich musical history of Nintendo with a special orchestral concert in Germany. The concert was enjoyed by 2,000 people in the beautiful Cologne Philharmonic Hall and tens of thousands also listened across the world through radio and video streams. It was the third in ...
Performed by the LSO, this is the definitive Legend of Zelda concert ...
It was August 23rd and my first time in Cologne. I was following the call of Symphonic Shades — the concert to honor the famous game composer Chris Hülsbeck in a way he will probably never forget — hoping for a great evening. To be honest I don't know much music from ...
Chris Huelsbeck is one of the most acclaimed European video game composers. He is mainly known for his music from the Commodore 64 and Amiga era with titles such as The Great Giana Sisters, R-Type,and Turrican. He had his breakthrough when his composition "Shades" won a music competition organized by a German ...
Featuring the premiere of Grammy winner Christopher Tin's new album ...
Last year, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the most beloved video game franchises to date, Nintendo launched The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary, culminating in the release of the latest entry in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. However, for many, the greatest part of Nintendo's ...
Video game concerts have typically diverged into one of two categories. “Best-of” concerts, such as Video Games Live or Distant Worlds, actively try to present the best pieces of music from a series and evoke memories from those pieces in a loving tribute sort of way. The other category includes ...
Overview I recently attended the Durham, North Carolina performance of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. This was not only my first time hearing any part of this performance set, but my first time ever attending a live orchestral performance of video game music. As such, my expectations ...
2011 has arguably been the best year in history for fans of The Legend of Zelda series. Nintendo promised that the 25th anniversary of Zelda would be special and it looks like they weren't kidding either. Three games have come out this year — the remake of Ocarina of Time for 3DS, ...
A fantastic concert that deserves your backing ...
Tour de Japon - Music from Final Fantasy was a six venue, seven concert special that started off at the Minato Mirai Hall in Yokohama and ended at the Festival Hall in Osaka. Staged between March 12 and April 16, 2004, the tour revealed some of the most spectacular Final Fantasy ...
On March 5, 2009, I had the opportunity to attend the second performance of the Video Game Orchestra. It occurred at Boston Massachusetts at the world-famous Berklee College of Music. The Video Game Orchestra features ninety students from the music school and is led by producer Shota Nakama, concertmaster Grace ...
They kept this concert really quiet. I didn't hear about it until a week before it was scheduled to take place, and this was only because a friend of mine showed me the website. I probably would have heard about it eventually though because the Official Nintendo Magazine UK, of ...
Video Games Live concluded their Europe 2009 tour on December 3 with a performance at the Cardiff International Arena to 1,800 people. I was personally invited to attend by show co-creator Tommy Tallarico and graciously accepted his offer of VIP tickets and backstage access. It wasn't easy to attend, given it ...
After purchasing my ticket online, my father and I jumped in the car and headed across the Benjamin Franklin bridge to Philadelphia. The Merriam Theater is about a half-hour from my home, but my father was going to a separate event that evening, so he was happy to come along, ...
The first of its kind to hit the United States, Video Games Live is a video game concert tour which includes the music from the best of the best video games spanning the last few generations. Game music includes the classics such as Pong and Frogger to the recent successes of World of Warcraft andHalo. The tour began ...
On November 19, 2006, I had the pleasure of attending the Video Games Live presentation at Via Funchal in the city of São Paulo. "But aren't you from Rio de Janeiro?" you might ask. Yes, I am. "So why didn't you go the Rio concert, you big silly man?" Because I had ...
It's true what they say in those 'most liveable cities of the world' reports: Melbourne is an awesome place to live. Still, one of the few things that I've been missing since I moved here some years ago is the occasional game music concert. The last such performance in Melbourne ...