The Symphonic Game Music Concerts (shortened to: Game Concerts) are a series of award-winning orchestral video game music concerts first performed in 2003 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, notable for being the longest running and the first of their kind outside Japan. [1] [2] [3] They are produced by Thomas Böcker [4] and performed by various orchestras conducted by Andy Brick (2003–2007), [5] Arnie Roth (2008, 2009 and 2011), [6] Niklas Willén (2010, 2012) [7] and Eckehard Stier (from 2012). [8]
In Leipzig, the Game Concerts series was held as GC in Concert from 2003 to 2007 as the official, annual opening ceremony of the GC – Games Convention. [9] From 2008 to 2012, a cooperation with the WDR and its in-house orchestra, the WDR Funkhausorchester Köln, was established, with concerts primarily held at the Kölner Philharmonie. [10] Since 2013, the events have been presented internationally, including performances with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London. [11]
Inspired by Far Eastern concerts with music from video games, in particular the Orchestral Game Music Concerts from the nineties, Thomas Böcker developed the concept for the first event of its kind outside Japan. [12] Wanting to reach as many people in the demographic as possible, he planned the concert alongside an established industry event. [13] In 2002, he submitted his idea to the Leipzig Trade Fair, and they agreed to present a video game music concert during the GC – Games Convention, the first video game fair in Europe. The Leipzig Trade Fair promoted GC in Concert, while Böcker acted as creative director and producer. This involved creating a concert programme and obtaining the permission of individual publishers to perform music from their game releases. [12]
On 20 August 2003, the first GC in Concert took place as part of the official opening ceremony of the GC – Games Convention, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Four annual concerts with different programmes followed until 2007, from then on featuring the FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague. Böcker decided not to limit the selection of compositions for the GC in Concert series to European games and instead chose Asian, American and European titles, resulting in a variety of musical styles. The focus of the first concert was on music from publishers that had been recorded previously with live orchestras, which reduced the development phase to four months, starting in mid-April 2003. [13]
After evaluating feedback from the audience, more music from classic games eventually found its way into the programmes. The following concerts had Böcker busy with the planning for one year each [12] and increasingly included newly written and more experimental arrangements that were not merely orchestral versions of the original compositions, but personal interpretations by the arrangers. [14] The pioneering work done by Böcker and his team paved the way for many comparable events. [13]
All five concerts in Leipzig took place in front of sold-out audiences of around 2000 people each. [2] [9] [15] In their role as official opening ceremonies of the GC – Games Convention, they also included various speeches by industry representatives and politicians such as Wolfgang Tiefensee. [16] In addition, numerous composers took part, including Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro, Chris Hülsbeck, Rob Hubbard and Allister Brimble. [17] [18]
Following an invitation by Thomas Böcker, Winfried Fechner, the manager of the WDR Funkhausorchester Köln, attended the fifth GC in Concert in Leipzig in the hope of introducing a new genre of music to his own ensemble. [19] Impressed by the response of the audience there, he saw an opportunity to inspire young people with orchestral music and entered into a collaboration with Böcker's Merregnon Studios , which soon led to the CD release drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura-, the first in-house concert including video game music titled PROMS That's Sound, that's Rhythm and, a little later, Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert. [20] [21]
In late 2007, Thomas Böcker announced his role as producer of Symphonic Shades, two concerts held on 23 August 2008 dedicated to the music of German composer Chris Hülsbeck. [22] The premiere performance with the WDR Funkhausorchester Köln at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz was the first game music concert to be broadcast live on the radio, WDR4 . [23]
On 4 August 2009, pieces from Symphonic Shades were performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. They were part of the concert Sinfonia Drammatica at the Stockholm Concert Hall, which additionally featured tracks from drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura. [24] The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra's 3rd Family Concert also featured arrangements from Symphonic Shades. [25]
Symphonic Fantasies – music from Square Enix took place on 12 September 2009 at the Kölner Philharmonie. [26] Tickets for the event quickly sold out, necessitating a second concert on 11 September 2009 at the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen. [27] The concert at the Philharmonie was broadcast on WDR4 and for the first time available via video streaming on the Internet. This was to be the case for all Game Concerts until 2011. [28]
Symphonic Fantasies is dedicated to Japanese game developer Square Enix and includes arrangements of pieces from Final Fantasy , Secret of Mana , Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Kingdom Hearts. [29]
In 2012, five more concerts were performed in Tokyo, Stockholm and again in Cologne, with an additional performance in 2016 at the Barbican Centre in London with the London Symphony Orchestra. Albums have been released of concert recordings from both Cologne (via Decca Records ) [30] and Tokyo (via X5Music /Merregnon Records). [31]
After the positive feedback from attendees of Symphonic Fantasies, the WDR announced another game concert titled Symphonic Legends, [32] which took place at the Kölner Philharmonie on 23 September 2010. The event featured music from Japanese game developer Nintendo , with titles such as Super Mario Bros. , Donkey Kong , Metroid , F-Zero and The Legend of Zelda being performed. [33] The symphonic poem of The Legend of Zelda made up the entire second half of Symphonic Legends. [34]
The LEGENDS performance on 1 June 2011, presented by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, was partly based on arrangements from Symphonic Legends. [35] On 13 July 2014, the London Symphony Orchestra performed the symphonic poem for The Legend of Zelda from this programme. [36]
With the reveal of Symphonic Legends, Winfried Fechner opened up in an interview [37] that audiences could expect two game music concerts a year and announced Symphonic Odysseys – Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu, a homage to the Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu. The programme, featuring arrangements from titles such as Lost Odyssey , Final Fantasy Legend, Blue Dragon and the Final Fantasy series, was performed twice at the Kölner Philharmonie on 9 July 2011.
Symphonic Odysseys was also performed by the London Symphony Orchestra in June 2017, on 18 June at the Philharmonie de Paris and on 20 June at the Barbican Centre. [38] [39] A recording of the concerts in Cologne was released as a double album on 28 December 2011 by Dog Ear Records , Uematsu's own label. [40]
In May 2012, Thomas Böcker announced his tenth concert production titled Final Symphony, comprising music from Final Fantasy VI, VII and X , composed by Nobuo Uematsu and Masashi Hamauzu. [41] The world premiere took place on 11 May 2013 and was performed by the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal at the Stadthalle Wuppertal. Another performance took place on 30 May 2013 with the London Symphony Orchestra, the first concert of game music for the orchestra. [11] The Final Symphony programme then went on a world tour with performances in Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, the USA, New Zealand, China, Austria, Australia and Poland.
A studio recording of Final Symphony was released on 23 February 2015 (via X5Music/Merregnon Records), performed by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. [42]
Plans for Final Symphony II were announced in March 2015. [43] The world premiere with music from Final Fantasy V , VIII , IX , and XIII took place on 29 August 2015 at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, performed by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, followed by four performances in September and October 2015 by the London Symphony Orchestra in London, Osaka and twice in Yokohama. [44] These performances marked the first time that a foreign orchestra gave concerts of game music in Japan. [45] In addition to the events in Germany, the UK and Japan, Final Symphony II was also presented in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. [46]
A studio recording of Final Symphony II was released on 4 August 2023 (via Merregnon Records), performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at Konserthuset Stockholm. [47]
Symphonic Memories – Music from Square Enix was premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 9 June 2018. [48] The concept of the production is to present popular scores from previous programmes such as Symphonic Fantasies, Final Symphony and Final Symphony II, and to combine some of them with new arrangements. [49] In addition to music from Final Fantasy VI, VIII and the Chronos series, a suite of music from Final Fantasy XV was heard for the first time in Stockholm. Further events took place in Finland, Switzerland, Japan and Germany.
The concerts in Japan were recorded and published as a double album by Square Enix's music label. In addition to arrangements from Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy XV, the world premieres of Octopath Traveler and Xenogears are part of the release. [50]
In 2021, for the tenth anniversary of Bethesda Softworks' action role-playing game Skyrim, Thomas Böcker produced a concert film featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices at Alexandra Palace in London.
The video was released on YouTube on 11 November 2021, shortly followed by a music album. [51]
In September 2023, Thomas Böcker produced another concert film, again for Bethesda Softworks, for the action role-playing game Starfield, which had just been released at the time. The recording took place with the London Symphony Orchestra at LSO St Luke's. The video was published on YouTube on 13 September 2023. [52]
The Chamber Music Game Concerts performed by a string ensemble as well as the school concerts Heroes of Our Imagination and Super Mario Galaxy – A Musical Adventure were three sub-series of events also produced by Böcker. [32]
A Chamber Music Game Concert in 2005 was held in conjunction with the gaming tournament GC-Cup at Augustusplatz in Leipzig, while two more of these performances were given in the context of a GC – Games Convention press conference and the exhibition Nintendo – Vom Kartenspiel zum Game Boy at the Landesmuseum Koblenz. [53]
The four school concerts Heroes of our Imagination by the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen in 2006 were conceived to demonstrate the differences and similarities between classical music and game music and to make orchestral concerts more accessible to a younger audience. [53] Five more school concerts took place in January 2010. The Super Mario Galaxy – A Musical Adventure series was the spiritual successor to Heroes of Our Imagination. The concerts were officially licensed and sponsored by Nintendo. The music was accompanied with short narrations of the Super Mario Galaxy story. [54]
Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the Final Fantasy video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton John as one of his biggest influences.
Christopher Hülsbeck, known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer. He gained popularity for his work on game soundtracks for The Great Giana Sisters and the Turrican series.
Merregnon is a series of works that blend orchestral music with fantasy fiction. Since its inception in 1999, the project has produced several albums and live concert performances. The two most recent installments, Merregnon: Land of Silence and Merregnon: Heart of Ice, were premiered in 2021 and 2024 respectively, with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. All projects are created, directed and produced by Merregnon Studios founder Thomas Böcker.
Jonne Valtonen is a Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is renowned for his contributions in the field of demoscene and tracker music, under the name Purple Motion, and with Future Crew.
Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 as an eponymous role-playing video game developed by Square, spawning a video game series that became the central focus of the franchise. The music of the Final Fantasy series refers to the soundtracks of the Final Fantasy series of video games, as well as the surrounding medley of soundtrack, arranged, and compilation albums. The series' music ranges from very light background music to emotionally intense interweavings of character and situation leitmotifs.
Final Fantasy VII is a role-playing video game by Square as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. Released in 1997, the game sparked the release of a collection of media centered on the game entitled the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. The music of the Final Fantasy VII series includes not only the soundtrack to the original game and its associated albums, but also the soundtracks and music albums released for the other titles in the collection. The first album produced was Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack, a compilation of all the music in the game. It was released as a soundtrack album on four CDs by DigiCube in 1997. A selection of tracks from the album was released in the single-disc Reunion Tracks by DigiCube the same year. Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII, an album featuring piano arrangements of pieces from the soundtrack, was released in 2003 by DigiCube, and Square Enix began reprinting all three albums in 2004. To date, these are the only released albums based on the original game's soundtrack, and were solely composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu; his role for the majority of subsequent albums has been filled by Masashi Hamauzu and Takeharu Ishimoto.
The music of the video game Final Fantasy VI was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu. The Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version, a compilation of all the music in the game, was released in Japan by NTT Publishing in 1994 and re-released by Square Enix in 2004. The album was released by Square Co./NTT Publishing in North America in 1994 under the name Kefka's Domain. Selected tracks from the official soundtrack were later released as part of the Music From FFV and FFVI Video Games album that was included with the release of Final Fantasy Anthology, and two EPs were produced containing character theme tracks entitled Final Fantasy VI Stars Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. A special orchestral arrangement of selected tracks from the game, arranged by Shiro Sagisu and Tsuneyoshi Saito, and performed by the Milan Symphony Orchestra, was released under the title Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale by NTT Publishing in 1994 and 2004, and a collection of piano arrangements, arranged by Shirou Satou and performed by Reiko Nomura, was released under the title Piano Collections Final Fantasy VI by Square/NTT Publishing in 1994 and by NTT Publishing in 2001. Additionally, a single containing unused and remixed tracks from the game was released as Final Fantasy VI Special Tracks by NTT Publishing in 1994.
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony was a concert series that featured music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts from 2006 to 2010 were conducted by Arnie Roth. From 2010, Andy Brick took the position of principal conductor and music director. Play! was replaced by the Replay: Symphony of Heroes concert series.
The music of the video games Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu, who would go on to be the exclusive composer for the next eight Final Fantasy games. Although they were composed separately, music from the two games has only been released together. All Sounds of Final Fantasy I•II, a compilation of almost all of the music in the games, was released by DataM/Polystar in 1989, and subsequently re-released by NTT Publishing in 1994. Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy, an arranged album of music from the two games by Katsuhisa Hattori and his son Takayuki Hattori was released by DataM in 1989, and re-released by NTT Publishing/Polystar in 1994. Final Fantasy & Final Fantasy II Original Soundtrack, another arranged album, this time by Nobuo Uematsu and Tsuyoshi Sekito, was released in 2002 by DigiCube and again in 2004 by Square Enix.
Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The original Final Fantasy video game, published in 1987, is a role-playing video game developed by Square, spawning a video game series that became the central focus of the franchise. The primary composer of music for the main series was Nobuo Uematsu, who single-handedly composed the soundtracks for the first nine games, as well as directing the production of many of the soundtrack albums. Music for the spin-off series and main series games beginning with Final Fantasy X was created by a variety of composers including Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Kumi Tanioka, as well as many others.
Arnold "Arnie" Roth is an American conductor, composer, and record producer, known for his expansive career in the music industry. Roth began his career as a professional violinist before founding AWR Music, where Roth became more involved as a producer of orchestral concerts and recordings. Roth is perhaps best known as the co-creator and Music Director of Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY, produced in collaboration with the video game company Square Enix. Distant Worlds has performed hundreds of sold-out concerts around the world and has produced six full-length albums of orchestral Final Fantasy music. Roth's son Eric is also a famed conductor.
Masayoshi Soken is a Japanese video game composer and sound editor who has worked for Square Enix since 2001. Soken is best known for being the lead composer and sound director of Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions and lead composer of Final Fantasy XVI.
Thomas Böcker is a German producer. He is the founder of Merregnon Studios and creative director of his orchestral music projects Merregnon and Game Concerts.
Symphonic Shades: Hülsbeck in Concert was a symphonic tribute concert held twice in Cologne, Germany on 23 August 2008 featuring video game music. The concert was held in honor of the German-born video-game composer Chris Hülsbeck, and featured orchestral arrangements exclusively based on Hülsbeck's works throughout his 22-year-long career. The concert was produced and directed by Thomas Böcker, with the majority of arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen, and with contributions by Japanese video-game composers Yuzo Koshiro, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, and additional assistance from Adam Klemens.
Symphonic Shades - Hülsbeck in Concert is an album featuring a mastered and mixed recording of the concert of the same name, held in Cologne, Germany at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz on August 23, 2008. It features music composed by German video game composer Chris Hülsbeck, arranged and orchestrated by Jonne Valtonen, Yuzo Koshiro and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. In addition to live recordings, the album also features new studio recordings of the piano piece Turrican 3, performed by Benyamin Nuss in his first collaborative effort with Merregnon Studios. The concert was also broadcast live on radio, marking the first time a video game concert has been broadcast on air.
Symphonic Fantasies: Music from Square Enix was an award-winning symphonic tribute concert originally held in Cologne, Germany on September 12, 2009, at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall featuring video game music from Japanese game developer Square Enix. The concert featured symphonic movements based on the Kingdom Hearts series, Secret of Mana, the Chrono series, and the Final Fantasy series. It was produced and directed by Thomas Böcker, with arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen with assistance by Roger Wanamo. Due to overwhelming demand, a second concert was added at the König-Pilsener-Arena in Oberhausen, on September 11, 2009. Both performances were by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne and the WDR Radio Choir Cologne under conduction from Arnie Roth, with guest performers Rony Barrak and Benyamin Nuss joining the orchestra. Symphonic Fantasies was broadcast over radio on the WDR4 station and streamed live video online.
Merregnon Studios is a company based in Dresden, Germany, founded by Thomas Böcker. It produces recordings and concerts worldwide, including the orchestral Merregnon and Game Concerts series.
Symphonic Odysseys: Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu was a symphonic tribute concert first held in Cologne, Germany on July 9, 2011 at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. The concert exclusively paid homage to the work of Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu and featured music selected from his works as a video game music composer. Among the games featured were Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Last Story, King's Knight, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy Legend, and selected works from the Final Fantasy series. The concert was produced and directed by Thomas Böcker, with arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen, along with Roger Wanamo, Masashi Hamauzu, and Jani Laaksonen. The concert was performed by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and the WDR Radio Choir Cologne under conduction from Arnie Roth, with guest performers Benyamin Nuss and Juraj Čižmarovič joining the orchestra. A video recording of Symphonic Odysseys was streamed live online. The concert was initially scheduled for a single performance, but after selling out within twelve hours a second concert was added prior in the same day in Cologne. This too sold out, resulting in a total attendance of over 4000.
Final Symphony is a symphonic concert tour first held at the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal in Wuppertal (Germany) on May 11, 2013. The concert tour features arrangements of video game music selected from the Final Fantasy series, specifically Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X. It is divided into three acts: a symphonic poem for VI, a piano concerto for X, and a symphony for VII. The concert is produced and directed by Thomas Böcker, with arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen, along with Roger Wanamo and Final Fantasy X composer Masashi Hamauzu with consultation from Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. The original works were composed by Uematsu and Hamauzu, and an introductory piece was composed by Valtonen. The premiere concert was performed by the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra under conduction from Eckehard Stier, with guest performer Benyamin Nuss joining the orchestra on piano.
Final Symphony II is a symphonic concert tour first held at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany on August 29, 2015. The concert performances feature arrangements of video game music selected from the Final Fantasy series, specifically Final Fantasy V, VIII, IX, and XIII. It is divided into four acts, one per game, with the newest game, Final Fantasy XIII, first, and the oldest, V, last; all four arrangements are single-section arrangements, with the IX portion as a piano concerto. The tour is a follow-up to Final Symphony, a similar tour of orchestral arrangement performances from Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X beginning in 2013. The concert is produced and directed by Thomas Böcker of Merregnon Studios, with arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen, along with Roger Wanamo and Final Fantasy XIII composer Masashi Hamauzu. The original works were composed by Nobuo Uematsu and Hamauzu, and an introductory piece was composed by Valtonen. The premiere concert was performed by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under conduction from Eckehard Stier, with guest performer Mischa Cheung joining the orchestra on piano.