Symphonic Game Music Concerts

The Symphonic Game Music Concerts (also engl. Symphonic Game Music Concerts ) are a series of annual concerts with German computer game music that found its beginning in 2003. She is primarily known for being the longest running and first series of its kind outside of Japan. Concerts are produced by Thomas Böcker and various orchestras under the baton of conductor Andy Brick (2003 to 2007), Arnie Roth ( 2008, 2009 and 2011) and Niklas Willén (2010) argued.

In Gewandhaus GC was an official opening ceremony of the Leipziger Messe Computer Games GC in Concert 2003-2007 - Games Convention held. In 2008, the dismissal of the concert led by the Leipziger Messe to cooperate with the WDR, which eventually brought forth new performances with computer game music through his own sound body. These concerts take place at the Cologne Philharmonie primarily.

• 3.1 Symphonic Shades - Hülsbeck in Concert
• 3.2 Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix 3.2.1 concerts 2009
• 3.2.2 concerts 2012

• 3.4.1 concerts 2013

Formation

Since 1999, Thomas Böcker has worked in the games industry as a producer, director and consultant for a variety of soundtracks. Its function as a production and project manager of the Merregnon trilogy rendered him many contacts to conductors, orchestras and composers from around the world.

Inspired by the Far Eastern Games concerts, especially the Orchestral Game Music Concerts from the nineties, he developed a concept for the first event of its kind outside of Japan. To attract as many people from the target group, the concert together with an established event in the gaming industry had to be applied. In 2002 he presented his idea of the Leipzig Fair, which was agreed to, the Symphonic Game Music Concert during the GC - Games Convention hold, the first computer games fair in Europe.

The Leipzig Trade Fair sponsored GC in Concert, while Böcker itself was responsible for the planning. Linked to this was the invitation of composer and putting up a concert program. Furthermore, the consent of individual publishers had to be obtained in order to perform music from the games published by them may. Böcker wanted the selection of the compositions are not limited to European games and put instead on the best Asian, American and European titles in recent years, which ensured a variety of musical styles.

The focus of the first symphonic game music concert he put on the honoring of publishers who had worked previously with live orchestras. The majority of the compositions had been recorded earlier with this kind of sound body, what the development phase of the concert in just four months, starting mid- April 2003 fell.

Based on the feedback from visitors of the first event finally found more music from classic games in the programs input. The following concerts employed Böcker almost a year each with the planning and contained more and more re-written and more experimental arrangements that were not just orchestral versions of the original pieces, but personal interpretations of the arrangers. The pioneering work that has been done by Böcker and his team, led to a lot of support from the publisher for games concerts outside Japan and paved the way for many similar events. The Symphonic Game Music Concerts have since become known for its numerous world premieres, some of which are also for Press Start - Symphony of Games and PLAY! A Video Game Symphony were reused. With the latter series Böcker was involved from 2005 to 2007.

The German concert series preferred a more classical atmosphere that completely relies on the quality of the music and its performance and does not rely on elaborate lighting effects or showing replays on big screens. The original Inspiritation, which referred GC in Concert from the Orchestral Game Music Concerts, was reflected in the performance and the new arrangement of two of her compositions. The orchestra figures, which were designed by Chisa Suzuki for the series, remember the CD cover of the Orchestral Game Music Concerts.

Many famous game music composers lived at the events and the associated autograph sessions. Shiro Hamaguchi, Michiru Yamane, Yuzo Koshiro and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi were even actively involved as Gastarrangeure and musicians.

GC in Concert

As of 2003, five annual and much-hyped concerts took place at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, all of which were presented to a full house with about 2000 visitors. In its role as the official opening ceremonies of the GC - Games Convention, the events of 2003 to 2006 included various speeches and presentations German politicians and industry representatives, for example, by game designer Will Wright.

The first symphonic game music concert in 2003 was the first orchestral computer game music concert outside of Japan. It was the only Gewandhaus concert in the series, in which the Czech National Symphony Orchestra played, whereas it was in the later events around the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Over the years, more musicians like Seiji Honda and Rony Barrak were included to support the orchestra. The Fourth Symphonic Game Music Concert used for the first time a choir and the Gewandhaus organ.

Deposition of GC in Concert

At the beginning of 2008 announced a notice on the official website of the series that no Symphonic Game Music Concerts more would continue to take place at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Instead, the opening ceremony of the GC was - Games Convention replaced in 2008 by a Video Games Live show at the Arena Leipzig.

Tommy Tallarico, production manager and host of the American game music concert series, spoke to have had an e- mail correspondence with Böcker. So plan was to a concert at the beginning and one at the end of the GC - Games Convention to take place in 2007, but Tallarico and Böcker found that it would have been too confusing for visitors. The official explanation of the Leipzig Fair for the deposition of traditional concerts was that you wanted to show the political and economic basis of the Symphonic Game Music Concerts the cultural value of computer games. Since the concerts from 2007 had nothing to do with an official opening ceremony of the exhibition, this condition was no longer met. According to a statement by Thomas Böcker Leipziger Messe had he not informed in advance about the new collaboration with Video Games Live and his team found out about it only through a press release.

After 2007

In an indication of the conductor Scott Lawton towards contacted Winfried Fechner, the manager of the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, Thomas Böcker - hoping to introduce the ensemble a new music genre. Result, he was invited to attend the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert. Impressed by the reactions of the local audience, he saw an opportunity to inspire young people for orchestral music and was a collaboration with the Merregnon studios one, which soon became the CD release drammatica - The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura and a first house concert led with computer game music called PROMS That's sound, that's Rhythm.

Symphonic Shades - Hülsbeck in Concert

End of 2007, Thomas Böcker announced his role as producer of Symphonic Shades, a concert to be held on 23 August 2008 and the whole of the music of German composer Chris games Hülsbeck dedicated. The tickets were sold out after only six days, which inspired the makers to announce a second concert, which was to take place by 23 clock of the same day of the premiere of Symphonic Shades before another sold-out crowd. The first performance by 20 clock was the first computer game music concert that was broadcast live on the radio.

A critically acclaimed album with the complete range of Symphonic Shades was published on 17 December 2008. It contains live footage from the concert, which was supplemented with recordings before and after the public events. At the first edition of the CD, there was a 1,000 piece limited edition collector's edition, which was sold out less than a month after the publication of the main merchants. To ensure the continued availability of the recording, followed by digital versions on iTunes and Amazon, as well as a second edition of the CD, on May 20, 2009. Unlike the limited collector's edition of the price of repressing is set lower and it is in standard CD Cases delivered. The booklet that came with the first 1000 copies already, is still present, but with a normal printed cover without matt varnish.

On 4 August 2009 eight pieces were performed by Symphonic Shades of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. They were part of the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Hall, which also tracks from Yoko Shimomura of drammatica were played. On this occasion, Jonne Valtonen took time to slightly revise its version of the Turrican II main theme. In the third family concert of the Duisburg Philharmonic also found nine of his arrangements of Symphonic Shades input.

Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix

Concerts in 2009

February 2008 mentioned Thomas Böcker considerations continue the series of the Symphonic Game Music Concerts in Cologne. The plans were later confirmed by Winfried Fechner, who announced a game music concert called Symphonic Fantasies, which took place at the Cologne Philharmonie on 12 September 2009. Tickets for the event sold out quickly, which necessitated a second concert on 11 September 2009 in Oberhausen König-Pilsener- Arena. In addition to the Philharmonic performances, the concert was broadcast on WDR4 and viewers around the world were able to follow the event for the first time via streaming video on the Internet live.

On 15 September 2010, the live recording of Symphonic Fantasies in Japan by Square Enix was released two days later by Universal Music ( Decca ). The mixture of the recordings took place in the studios of the WDR, has mastered the album in London at Abbey Road Studios. The CD album reached number 13 in the Media Control Charts Germany ( Classical Top 20 Charts ) for sales in the month of September.

Symphonic Fantasies is dedicated to the Japanese game maker Square Enix and includes arrangements of compositions from Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Kingdom Hearts, all of which are presented in the form of up to 18 -minute suites, similar to the rates in large symphonies. This new concept emerged from Thomas Böckers desire to incorporate more musical development and creative ideas in arrangements of video game music. To select the items to be contained the original composers were consulted, which anfertigten lists of their favorite works. This process included the detailed study of the starting material and all existing arrangements. The balancing of the concert program and the revision of the compositions was associated with a lot of effort to make the show for Ersthörer and experienced concert goers equally entertaining.

The concerts were a original composition by Jonne Valtonen, the " Fanfare overture ", opened to tune the receiver to the new arrangements. An early recording of the fanfare that was played by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, conducted by Niklas Willén, was released as a video on the official website of Symphonic Fantasies. Before the public performances about two weeks of rehearsal, long, more than for any previous game music concerts.

Concerts in 2012

On 7 and 8 January 2012, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus Symphonic Fantasies played under the direction of corner Hard bull.

Taurus has conducted the recordings of the CD album drammatica - The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura and the opening fanfare to Symphonic Legends for a promotional video. Both performances of Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo were sold out within hours, and the events thus became biggest success for the producers. More than 4,600 fans were on hand.

Symphonic Legends - music from Nintendo

The great response and positive feedback from the visitors of Symphonic Fantasies brought the WDR and Thomas Böcker to announce another symphonic game music concert Symphonic Legends called, which took place at the Cologne Philharmonie on 23 September 2010. For the first time the complete concert by Niklas Willén was conducted, whereas most of the arrangements were written by Jonne Valtonen again. The theme of the event was the music of Nintendo, which among other titles such as Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Metroid, F -Zero, and The Legend of Zelda were presented. As with Jonne Valtonen Symphonic Fantasies composed the fanfare, called " Fanfare for the Common 8- bit Hero", of which a video of the sample was published in April 2010 as a prelude to the concert.

Symphonic Legends offered some innovations in the field of game music, including the arranged in the style of contemporary music Metroid and a 35-minute tone poem The Legend of Zelda musically told. The Legend of Zelda turned out the entire second half of Symphonic Legends, divided into five sections: Hyrulian Child, Dark Lord, Princess of Destiny, Battlefield and Hero of Time.

Symphonic Odysseys - Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu

Almost simultaneously with the unveiling of the themes of Symphonic Legends opened Winfried Fechner in an interview with squareenixmusic.com that perhaps could expect two games music concerts a year in the future even, and announced Symphonic Odysseys - Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu on. This concert is entirely dedicated to the work Nobuo Uematsu, with Jonne Valtonen is responsible for the arrangements again. Other arrangements were written by Roger Wanamo, Mikko Laine and Jani Laaksonen. Among others, tracks from the games Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Blue Dragon, as well as the namesake for the concert played Lost Odyssey. Symphonic Odysseys took place on 9 July 2011. The start of ticket sales on December 1, 2010 and was so successful that within 12 hours, all tickets were sold out and some time later, a second was organized earlier performance.

Concerts in 2013

Symphonic Selections

On 22.11.2013 was at the Cologne Philharmonic Symphonic Selections with the fifth video game music concert with the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, listed under the direction of Wayne Marshall. Among other music from the video games Final Fantasy, Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda, Monster Hunter, Shadow of the Colossus and Castlevania was played.

Chamber music and school concerts

The of a string ensemble presented chamber music concerts games and school concerts Heroes of Imagination and Super Mario Galaxy - A Musical Adventure are three subordinate series of events, which are also produced by Thomas Böcker.

The free First Chamber Music Game Concert in 2005 was held in conjunction with the gaming tournament GC Cup on Augustus Square in Leipzig, while the other two in conjunction with a GC - Games Convention press conference and the historical exhibition Nintendo - From the card game for Game Boy the Landesmuseum Koblenz were held.

The four school concerts Heroes of Imagination 2006 should reveal the differences and similarities between classical music and games music and make orchestral concerts more accessible for a younger audience. They were supported by Nintendo, Square Enix and Sega. January 2010 took place five more school concerts of the New Elbe Philharmonic Hall. The series was called Super Mario Galaxy - A Musical Adventure and was the spiritual successor to Heroes of Imagination. The concerts were officially licensed and sponsored by Nintendo. They were inspired by the musical tale Peter and the Wolf and should represent a modern version of. The orchestral parts were supplemented with a short narrative of the history of Super Mario Galaxy.

Awards

• 2012 Best Live Concert: Symphonic Odysseys - Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu, Annual Original Sound Version Awards 2011
• 2011 Outstanding Production - Concert: Symphonic Odysseys - Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu, Annual Game Music Awards 2011
• 2011 Best RPG -Related Arranged Soundtrack: Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix, RPGFan Awards 2010
• 2011 Best Live Concert: Symphonic Legends - music from Nintendo, Annual Original Sound Version Awards 2010
• 2010 Best Arranged Album - Solo / Ensemble: Symphonic Fantasies - music from Square Enix, Annual Game Music Awards 2010
• 2010 Best Concert: Symphonic Legends - music from Nintendo, LEVEL magazine Sweden