Symphonic Odysseys

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Symphonic Odysseys: Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu
Orchestral concert tour by Merregnon Studios
Symphonic Odysseys Logo.jpg
Orchestra WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln
London Symphony Orchestra
ChoirWDR Radio Choir Cologne
London Symphony Chorus
Conductor Arnie Roth
Eckehard Stier
Composer Nobuo Uematsu
Arrangers Jonne Valtonen, Roger Wanamo, Masashi Hamauzu, Jani Laaksonen
Location Cologne, Germany
Paris, France
London, England
Album recordingSymphonic Odysseys
Date(s)July 9, 2011
June 18, 2017
June 20, 2017
Supporting acts Benyamin Nuss
Juraj Čižmarovič
Mischa Cheung
Producer Thomas Böcker (Merregnon Studios)
Merregnon Studios concert chronology

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.

Contents

In June 2017, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus performed Symphonic Odysseys under the baton of Eckehard Stier, with guest performer Mischa Cheung. The first concert took place on 18 June at the Philharmonie de Paris in Paris, France, the second on 20 June at the Barbican Centre in London, United Kingdom. Same as in Cologne years before, Nobuo Uematsu was present at both events as guest of honour.

A recording of the concerts in Cologne was published as a two-disc album on December 28, 2011 by Dog Ear Records, Uematsu's own record label. The albums, along with the concerts themselves, received varied reviews, with some critics giving enthusiastic praise, especially in regards to the quality of the performance, the choice of source material, and the quality of the arrangements, while one critic greatly disliked several of the arrangements.

Concert

Production

Thomas Böcker and then WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne director Winfried Fechner began collaborating on orchestrated video game concerts in 2007, after Fechner had attended the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert held in Leipzig. [1] As their ideas and plans materialized, three projects were set in motion to determine the interest of a younger audience in classical music performance and the aptitude of the WDR orchestra in focusing on a new source of compositions. The first project was PROMS: That's Sound, That's Rhythm, held in early 2008, featuring a mixture of classical works and video game music, ranging from works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Morton Gould as well as arrangements of music from video games such as Shenmue and Castlevania previously featured in the Symphonic Game Music Concerts. The second project, held in August 2008, was a composer-specific concert titled Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert , focusing entirely on the works of German video game composer Chris Hülsbeck, [2] while the third project was a concert of music from the video games by Square Enix titled Symphonic Fantasies: Music from Square Enix , held in September 2009. [3] A third "Symphonic" concert, Symphonic Legends – Music from Nintendo , was then held in September 2010, and afterwards Böcker decided to have one final production to close out the "Symphonic" series. [4]

Arranger Jonne Valtonen in 2010 Jonne Valtonen Official.jpg
Arranger Jonne Valtonen in 2010

The fourth concert was first announced by Winfried Fechner in March 2010 as Symphonic Odysseys - Uematsu in Concert, with the subtitle later changed to "Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu". [1] [5] The sole composer featured in the concert is Nobuo Uematsu, a Japanese video game composer best known for his work at Square Enix, who is considered one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community. [6] He has composed the music for dozens of video games, including the majority of the Final Fantasy series, and his compositions had been a significant component of the Symphonic Fantasies concert. Böcker has said that he considers Uematsu to be "the most famous composer of video game music and in general one of the most influential", and that Uematsu's 20020220 - Music from Final Fantasy concert in 2002 was a big influence on his own concerts. [7] The decision to focus the event on Uematsu was made in part due to Uematsu's own desire to one day hear a concert based on his compositions as a whole; he was also very interested in hearing more experimental arrangements of his pieces than have been done in the past after watching the Symphonic Fantasies concert. [1] [8] A website was set up for news and updates on the concert, including video messages from Nobuo Uematsu himself. [5] Tickets for the concert went on sale on December 1, 2010, and were sold out within 12 hours, prompting the addition of a second performance to be held earlier in the afternoon of the same day. This too sold out, resulting in a total attendance of over 4000. [7] [9] [10] Third and fourth performances were held almost six years later on June 18, 2017 in Paris, [11] and June 20, 2017 in London, both by the London Symphony Orchestra. [12]

Producer Thomas Bocker in 2010 Thomas Boecker.jpg
Producer Thomas Böcker in 2010

Jonne Valtonen and Roger Wanamo, the arrangers for the Symphonic Fantasies and Symphonic Legends concerts, returned as the lead arrangers for the concert. [4] Additional arrangements were made by Jani Laaksonen and Masashi Hamauzu, and Mikko Laine served as the lyricist for the choral components of the concert. [13] Uematsu was not involved in any aspect of the production, even song selection, as he wanted to be surprised by the result. [8] The style of arrangements followed in the tradition of the shows preceding Symphonic Odysseys, featuring a number of rich, sophisticated suites structured for melodic storytelling. A focus was put on presenting a balanced mix of fan favorites as well as lesser known material that was not commonly performed in orchestra concerts based on video game music. [4] Böcker styled the concert to be a mix of Shades and Fantasies, in that there was a mix of shorter pieces with longer suites. [8] The titles chosen to be featured in the concert were the Final Fantasy series, King's Knight , Chrono Trigger , the SaGa series, The Last Story , Blue Dragon , and Lost Odyssey . [14] Additionally, Uematsu composed an original fanfare to open the concert, which was arranged by Jonne Valtonen. [4] [15]

Show

The first two concerts were held on July 9, 2011, at 3:00 and 8:00 pm, at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, Germany. [16] Symphonic Odysseys was performed by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and the WDR Radio Choir Cologne, conducted by Arnie Roth. Nobuo Uematsu was in attendance, and Ralph Erdenberger served as the presenter. The concert was also broadcast live online. [16] The concert was divided into two acts separated by an intermission, with the first act focusing on Uematsu's earlier works and the second act made up of material composed in the later parts of his career. The event was initiated by the original opening fanfare composed by Uematsu followed by a nearly nineteen-minute-long piano concerto of Final Fantasy music from the first six titles in the series, presented in 3 movements: "Grave - Allegro", "Adagio Cantabile", and "Allegro Molto". The piano was played by Benyamin Nuss. The placement of the piece was a throwback to Nuss's performance at Symphonic Fantasies, where he also performed a piano concerto at the beginning of the concert. [14] The concerto was the one that Wanamo was most excited about arranging for the concert. [8] It was followed by arrangements of individual pieces from King's Knight, Chrono Trigger, the SaGa series, and Final Fantasy X. [14]

After a brief intermission, the second act was started by arrangements of pieces from The Last Story, Final Fantasy XIV and Blue Dragon. The Blue Dragon piece featured a violin performance by Juraj Čižmarovič, who also performed at the Symphonic Legends concert. They were followed by a suite of music from Lost Odyssey to round out the second half of the concert, which lasted twenty minutes. The concert was extended by two encore performances featuring Benyamin Nuss on piano; the first was an arrangement from Final Fantasy X, and the second a suite of battle music from Final Fantasy VII. [14]

The programme of the performances by the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus differed only slightly from the first performance in Cologne. Conducted by Eckehard Stier and with guest performer Mischa Cheung, the concerts took place on 18 and 20 June, 2017, at the Philharmonie de Paris in Paris, France and on 20 June at the Barbican Centre in London, United Kingdom.

Set List

Set list
#TitleOriginal game (original pieces if different from title)Arranger
1."Opening Fanfare"Jonne Valtonen
2."Concerto for Piano and Orchestra from Final Fantasy"
(Movements: "Grave - Allegro","Adagio Cantabile","Allegro Molto")
Final Fantasy I ("Main Theme", "Opening Theme"),Final Fantasy II ("Battle Scene 2", "Battle Scene 3"),Final Fantasy III ("The Boundless Ocean"),Final Fantasy IV ("The Dreadful Fight"),Final Fantasy V ("Clash on the Big Bridge"),Final Fantasy VI ("Opening Theme", "Aria", "The Fierce Battle", "The Unforgiven")Roger Wanamo
3."A Pretty Day Out"King's KnightJonne Valtonen
4."Silent Night"Chrono TriggerJonne Valtonen
5."Main Theme and Save the World"The Final Fantasy Legend ("Main Theme"), Final Fantasy Legend II ("Save the World")Jonne Valtonen
6."A Fleeting Dream"Final Fantasy XRoger Wanamo
7."Spreading Your Wings"The Last StoryJani Laaksonen
8."On Windy Meadows"Final Fantasy XIVJonne Valtonen
9."Waterside"Blue DragonJonne Valtonen
10."Suite from Lost Odyssey"Lost Odyssey ("Main Theme", "A Formidable Enemy Appears", "A Sad Tolten", "Dark Saint", "Light of Blessing ~ A Letter")Jonne Valtonen
11. (Encore #1)"Ending Theme"Final Fantasy XMasashi Hamauzu
12. (Encore #2)"Battle Suite"Final Fantasy VII ("Let the Battles Begin!", "One-Winged Angel", "Jenova", "Birth of a God")Roger Wanamo

Album

Symphonic Odysseys
Symphonic Odysseys Album.jpg
Live album by
WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, WDR Radio Choir Cologne, Benyamin Nuss
ReleasedDecember 28, 2011
RecordedJuly 9, 2011
Genre Classical, Video game music
Length1:34:56
Label Dog Ear Records
Producer Michael Breugst

The concert in Cologne was recorded and released as an album titled Symphonic Odysseys by Dog Ear Records, Nobuo Uematsu's recording label. It was announced to be in production on October 26, 2011, and released on December 28, 2011. [17] The artwork for the album features a cross between a sword and a violin on a white background, in the vein of the Symphonic Fantasies album, which had a cross between a violin and a game controller. The cover art was produced by German design house Schech, who earlier provided the artwork for the European release of Symphonic Fantasies. [18] Accompanying the CD is a booklet which contains photos of the concert and discusses the arrangers and compositions included in each song. [19] The album contains everything played at the concert, with the Final Fantasy suite split into three tracks, and the album is split at the intermission into two CDs. Its fourteen tracks have a duration of 1:34:56. [17] While Dog Ear Records published the album in Japan, the album was released in Europe through the online music retailer MAZ-Sound. [18]

Symphonic Odysseys
#Track nameLength
Disc 1
1."Opening Fanfare"3:07
2."Final Fantasy Concerto ~ For Piano and Orchestra - I. Grave - Allegro"7:36
3."Final Fantasy Concerto ~ For Piano and Orchestra - II. Adagio cantabile"6:53
4."Final Fantasy Concerto ~ For Piano and Orchestra - III. Allegro molto"4:28
5."King's Knight BGM ~Pretty day out~ (from King's Knight)"5:49
6."Light of Silence (from Chrono Trigger)"5:38
7."The Final Fantasy Legend / Final Fantasy Legend 2"6:02
8."A Fleeting Dream (from Final Fantasy X)"6:01
Disc 2
1."Spreading Your Wings (from The Last Story)"6:07
2."On Windy Meadows (from Final Fantasy XIV)"6:29
3."Waterside (from Blue Dragon)"6:11
4."Lost Odyssey Suite"20:34
5."Ending Theme (from Final Fantasy X)"4:46
6."Final Fantasy VII Battle Suite"5:15

Reception

The Symphonic Odysseys concert received varied reviews, with praise given the performance and choice of source material, and both praise and criticism given to the quality of the arrangements. Audun Sorlie of Original Sound Version stated that it was "the greatest live music event I have ever attended," and said that the standing ovation at the end was "the longest[...] I've been part of". [14] Original Sound Version named the concert as the best of the year for 2011 in their year-end awards. [20] In his review of the album for the site, Jayson Napolitano said that the arrangements for the concert were "top notch", and brought attention to works by the composers which were typically overlooked. [19] Joe Hammond of Square Enix Music Online said that it was "an outstanding concert — possibly the most successful in Europe to date" and added that it was "a tour de force of flawless performances and impeccable orchestrations and arrangements". He felt that several of the pieces surpassed the arrangements played in the Distant Worlds and Symphonic Fantasies concerts, and made special note of the third movement in the Final Fantasy concerto and the Lost Odyssey suite. [10] Polish site GameMusic.net's Mariusz Borkowski, in his review of the album, made particular note of Benyamin Nuss's piano performance during the Final Fantasy concerto and Juraj Čižmarovič's violin performance in the Lost Odyssey suite. He stated that the concert "sets new standards as to how a professional game music event should be organised." [21]

In contrast to the enthusiastic praises of other critics, Kyle Miller of RPGFan felt that many of the pieces were "disorganized and ineptly arranged", and that the arrangements had a lack of enthusiasm. He reserved praise only for the fanfare and the Lost Odyssey suite. [17] Benjamin Schmädig of the German site 4Players.de felt that while some of the arrangements were "excellently arranged", they did "not make a mark in the overall impression", specifically noting "On Windy Meadows", "Main Theme and Save the World", and "Spreading Your Wings" as "spot-on, but conventional fan service", and found that the Lost Odyssey suite was lacking a rousing finale, with a relatively unremarkable choir compared to Valtonen's previous work. He also dismissed the efforts of the concert's moderator as childish. Unlike Miller, however, he felt that the other concert pieces were outstanding, especially the Final Fantasy concerto and "Silent Light". He also praised the concert's use of Uematsu's less-often arranged pieces and concluded his review with the verdict of a "fantastic, sometimes even magnificent evening of games". [22]

The album release received similar reviews to the original concert. Napolitano, in addition to reiterating some of Sorlie's praises from the original concert about the quality of the arrangements, praised the production values of the album, noting the "crisp, clean sound" as similar to the listening experience of being at the concert and superior to that of the live stream of the concert and that the applause between pieces had been edited out. [19] Hammond called it a "phenomenal album release", stating that it would appeal to both classical music fans and video game music fans. [10] Neither Miller nor Borkowski made note of the differences between the concert and the album, and Schmädig did not review the album. [17] [21] [22]

Related Research Articles

Nobuo Uematsu Japanese music composer (born 1959)

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. Uematsu joined Square in 1986, where he first met Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. The two later worked together on many games at the company, most notably in the Final Fantasy series. After nearly two decades with Square, Uematsu left in 2004 to create his own production company and music label, Dog Ear Records. He has since composed music as a freelancer for other games, including ones developed by Square Enix and Sakaguchi's development studio, Mistwalker.

Symphonic Game Music Concerts

The Symphonic Game Music 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. They are produced by Thomas Böcker and performed by various orchestras conducted by Andy Brick (2003–2007), Arnie Roth, Niklas Willén and Eckehard Stier.

Jonne Valtonen Musical artist

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.

Shirō Hamaguchi Musical artist

Shirō Hamaguchi is a Japanese anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is best known for composing music to the anime franchises Girls und Panzer, One Piece, and Oh My Goddess! and arranging/orchestrating music in the Final Fantasy series. He frequently collaborates with fellow composers Kohei Tanaka and Akifumi Tada on anime scores.

The Black Mages were a Japanese instrumental rock band formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui and Tsuyoshi Sekito, who were three video game composers for Square and Square Enix. The band arranged Uematsu's Final Fantasy video game series-based compositions in a hard rock style often similar to progressive metal, achieved with the additional use of synthesizers. A year later the band expanded to six members with the addition of Keiji Kawamori, Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda. In August 2010, Uematsu announced the band had been disbanded, but he would continue to perform rock arrangements of his music as a part of another similar band, known as the Earthbound Papas.

The music of the video game Final Fantasy X was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu, along with Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. It was the first title in the main Final Fantasy series in which Uematsu was not the sole composer. The Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack was released on four Compact Discs in 2001 by DigiCube, and was re-released in 2004 by Square Enix. Prior to the album's North American release, a reduced version entitled Final Fantasy X Official Soundtrack was released on a single disk by Tokyopop in 2002. An EP entitled feel/Go dream: Yuna & Tidus containing additional singles not present in the game was released by DigiCube in 2001. Piano Collections Final Fantasy X, a collection of piano arrangements of the original soundtracks by Masashi Hamauzu and performed by Aki Kuroda, was released by DigiCube in 2002 and re-released by Square EA in 2004. A collection of vocal arrangements of pieces from the game arranged by Katsumi Suyama along with radio drama tracks was released as Final Fantasy X Vocal Collection in 2002 by DigiCube.

Music of <i>Chrono Trigger</i> Music of the video game Chrono Trigger

The Chrono series is a video game franchise developed and published by Square Enix. It began in 1995 with the time travel role-playing video game Chrono Trigger, which spawned two continuations, Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. The music of Chrono Trigger was mainly composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, with a few tracks composed by regular Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. The Chrono Trigger soundtrack has inspired four official album releases by Square Enix: a soundtrack album released by NTT Publishing in 1995 and re-released in 2004, a greatest hits album published by DigiCube in 1999, published in abbreviated form by Tokyopop in 2001, and republished by Square Enix in 2005, an acid jazz arrangement album published and republished by NTT Publishing in 1995 and 2004, and a 2008 orchestral arranged album by Square Enix. Corresponding with the Nintendo DS release of the game, a reissued soundtrack was released in 2009. An arranged album for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, entitled To Far Away Times, was released in 2015 to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of Chrono Trigger.

Final Fantasy VII is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment 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 XII was composed primarily by Hitoshi Sakimoto. Additional music was provided by Masaharu Iwata and Hayato Matsuo, who also orchestrated the opening and ending themes. Former regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu's only work for this game was "Kiss Me Good-Bye", the theme song sung by Angela Aki. The Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack was released on four Compact Discs in 2006 by Aniplex. A sampling of tracks from the soundtrack was released as an album entitled Selections from Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack, and was released in 2006 by Tofu Records. Additionally, a promotional digital album titled The Best of Final Fantasy XII was released on the Japanese localization of iTunes for download only in 2006. "Kiss Me Good-Bye" was released by Epic Records as a single in 2006, and Symphonic Poem "Hope", the complete music from the game's end credits, was released by Hats Unlimited in 2006. An abridged version of the latter piece, which originally accompanied a promotional video for the game, was included in the official soundtrack album. An album of piano arrangements, titled Piano Collections Final Fantasy XII, was released by Square Enix in 2012.

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 seven 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.

The music of the video game Final Fantasy III was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu. Final Fantasy III Original Sound Version, a compilation of almost all of the music in the game, was released by Square Co./NTT Publishing in 1991, and subsequently re-released by NTT Publishing in 1994 and 2004. The soundtrack to the remake of Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS, Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack was released by NTT Publishing in 2006, with revamped versions of the tracks and additional tracks. A vocal arrangement album entitled Final Fantasy III Yūkyū no Kaze Densetsu, or literally Final Fantasy III Legend of the Eternal Wind, contained a selection of musical tracks from the game. The tracks were performed by Nobuo Uematsu and Dido, a duo composed of Michiaki Kato and Shizuru Ohtaka. The album was released by Data M in 1990 and by Polystar in 1994.

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.

Thomas Böcker

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.

<i>Symphonic Fantasies</i> Concert tour of music from four Square Enix video game series

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.

Symphonic Legends – Music from Nintendo 2010 symphonic concert of Nintendo video game music

Symphonic Legends – Music from Nintendo was a symphonic tribute concert held in Cologne, Germany on 23 September 2010 by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, featuring video game music from Japanese game developer Nintendo. The concert featured symphonic arrangements found in some of Nintendo's biggest game series, such as Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Pikmin, F-Zero and Donkey Kong. The concert was produced and directed by Thomas Böcker, with arrangements provided by Finnish composers and musicians Jonne Valtonen and Roger Wanamo, as well as Japanese game music composers Masashi Hamauzu, Hayato Matsuo, Shiro Hamaguchi and German film composer Torsten Rasch.

Merregnon Studios

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.

<i>Final Symphony</i> Concert tour of music from the Final Fantasy video game series

Final Symphony is a symphonic concert tour first held at the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal in Wuppertal (Germany) on May 11, 2013. Between then and 2018 it included 22 performances worldwide. 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.

<i>Final Symphony II</i> Concert tour of music from the Final Fantasy video game series

Final Symphony II was a symphonic concert tour first held at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany on August 29, 2015, and continuing through 2019. The concert performances featured 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 was a follow up to Final Symphony, a similar tour of orchestral arrangement performances from Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X beginning in 2013 and continuing through 2018. The concert was 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.

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