Fantasy gaming as a Symphony Orchestra

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 15 March 2007 09:12

Opinion and Analysis

The Eminence Symphony Orchestra is bringing the rich arrangements found in today’s blockbuster video games to life.  Presenting ‘A Night in Fantasia 2007’.

Culturally aware gamers and music lovers alike can come together this April to experience ‘A Night in Fantasia 2007 – Symphonic Games Edition’.

The three concerts, two in Sydney and one in Melbourne Australia feature the 60 piece Eminence Symphony Orchestra (ESO), along with a 30 piece choir and giant projection screen featuring footage from the featured games.

Games including Super Mario Brothers, Kingdom Hearts series, Metal Gear Solid series, Final Fantasy series, World of Warcraft, Shadow of the Colossus, Tales of Legendia, Xenosaga, Chrono Cross, Soul Calibur series and many more will have their scores reworked by the Orchestra and choir for the show. 

To put the pressure on the artists, the concerts will be attended by some of the most famous composers and orchestrators of the video game industry, these include Yoko Shimoumura – composer of Kingdom Hearts series and Final Fantasy Versus XIII; Hitoshi Sakimoto – composer of Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics; Yasunori Mitsuda – composer of Chrono Trigger and Xenogeaers; Kow Otani – composer of Shadow of the Colossus and Haibane Renmai; Shiro Hamaguchi – orchestrator and arranger of the Final Fantasy series; Masaru Shiina – composer of Tales of Legendia, Tekken: Dark Resurrection and Ace Combat 3; and Junichi Nakatsuru – Composer of Soul Calibur series and Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.

Attendees are asked to mute their PSP’s and DS machines during the concerts :)

The ESO are not new to bringing the aural side of gaming to a wider community, with the company presenting similar game orientated shows to (mostly) Sydney audiences since the their inception in 2003.

Dates and prices for the shows are;

Sydney                            
Dates: Friday 20 & Saturday 21 April              
Time: 7.30pm                           
Venue: The Sydney Town Hall                   
Bookings: via Books Kinokuniya    

Melbourne                           
Dates: Friday 27 April              
Time: 7.30pm                           
Venue: Hamer Hall, The Arts Centre                  
Bookings: via Ticketmaster
                                                   Concession                Adult    
A Reserve                                    $60.00                       $70.00
B Reserve                                    $50.00                       $60.00
C Reserve                                    $30.00                       $40.00