Play! A Video Game Symphony
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PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a symphony world tour featuring music from video games.
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[edit] Description
The concert tour is a production of Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc. the same company responsible for bringing Dear Friends -Music from Final Fantasy- symphony tour to the United States and the one off production More Friends- Music from FINAL FANTASY. Grammy award winner Maestro Arnie Roth, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Chicagoland Pops, serves as Principal Conductor and Music Director for PLAY!, and Andy Brick serves as Associate Conductor.
PLAY! features music from games such as:
- ActRaiser
- Apidya
- Battlefield
- Black (video game)
- Blue Dragon
- Castlevania
- Chrono Cross
- Chrono Trigger
- Daytona USA (arcade game)
- Dreamfall
- Final Fantasy
- Halo
- Kingdom Hearts
- Lost Odyssey
- Metal Gear Solid
- Prey (video game)
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Shenmue
- Silent Hill
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Stella Deus
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario World
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
- The Darkness (video game)
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- The Legend of Zelda
- The Revenge of Shinobi
- World of Warcraft
- Commodore 64-Medley, including the titles The Great Giana Sisters, International Karate, Wizball, The Last Ninja, Forbidden Forest and Ancestors - Zoids Desert Battle
- Commodore Amiga-Medley, including the titles Alienbreed, Lionheart, Pinball Fantasies, James Pond 2, Lemmings and Turrican 2
The PLAY! tour premiered on May 27, 2006 in Rosemont, Illinois, North America, and will be followed by stops in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand.
The world-premiere of PLAY! took place at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, Illinois (Chicago area). In attendance were video game composers Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, Jeremy Soule, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yuzo Koshiro, Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, Akira Yamaoka and Jason Hayes. The event featured a meet and greet with the composers and director Arnie Roth as a $45 "VIP" addition to the normal ticket price. Percussionist Rony Barrak joined the concert as guest artist along with composer Akira Yamaoka and singer/songwriter Angela Aki. Yamaoka performed electric guitar accompanying the orchestra during the Silent Hill Theme of Laura, which he composed. Aki performed the theme song from Final Fantasy XII, "Kiss Me Good-Bye," and "Eyes On Me" from Final Fantasy VIII. As a special surprise act, composer Koji Kondo performed a special piano selection from New Super Mario Bros..
The European debut of PLAY! took place at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden. Video game composers Nobuo Uematsu, Chris Hülsbeck, Joel Eriksson, Bence Pajor and Gustaf Grefberg attended the concert. Percussionist Rony Barrak joined the event as guest artist again. Tickets for the concert in Stockholm sold out in 14 days.
Composers Yoko Shimomura, Hitoshi Sakimoto and Michael Salvatori attended the concert in Detroit. Composers Nobuo Uematsu, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Chris C. Tilton and Jeremy Soule attended the concert in Toronto. As a special surprise act, composer Takenobu Mitsuyoshi performed the song "Let's Go Away" from Daytona USA. Takenobu Mitsuyoshi has been confirmed to attend all three PLAY! Singapore concerts alongside with Yuzo Koshiro in June 2007. Yuzo Koshiro will DJ selections of his works including the Wangan Midnight and Streets of Rage series.
For the concerts in Stockholm, Sweden in 2007, a world premiere of the Final Fantasy VI song Dancing Mad has been announced recently, featuring full orchestra, choir, pipe organ and the rock band Machinae Supremacy. Composer Akira Yamaoka will be in attendance at the concerts and he will perform live with the orchestra.
Nobuo Uematsu composed the fanfare that will open each concert of PLAY! around the world.
Nobuo Uematsu was unable to appear at the Sydney premiere, but instead producers showed a recording of him speaking about Play! A Video Game Symphony and its release.
Owing to a large number of requests for a recoding of the concerts, Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc. has also decided to publish an official CD as well as DVD. The performance used for both will be the evening performance of April, 23 in Prague, Czech Republic. After a long and repeated set of delays, the CD/DVD set is scheduled to ship on January 9, 2009.[1][2]
[edit] Program
The following titles are listed in the official PLAY! 2006 souvenir program.
| Track | Game | Title | Original composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PLAY! A Video Game Symphony | Fanfare | Nobuo Uematsu |
| 2 | Final Fantasy VIII | Liberi Fatali | Nobuo Uematsu |
| 3 | Super Mario Bros. | Suite | Kōji Kondō |
| 4 | Shenmue and Shenmue II | Sedge Tree | Takenobu Mitsuyoshi |
| 5 | Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 | Suite | Joel Eriksson, David Tallroth, Fredrik Englund, Jonas Östholm, Bence Pajor |
| 6 | Final Fantasy VII | Aerith's Theme | Nobuo Uematsu |
| 7 | Sonic the Hedgehog | Suite | Masato Nakamura |
| 8 | Metal Gear Solid | Main Theme | Tappy Iwase, Kazuki Muraoka |
| 9 | Kingdom Hearts | Suite | Yoko Shimomura, Utada Hikaru |
| 10 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Suite | Jeremy Soule |
| 11 | Final Fantasy series | Swing de Chocobo | Nobuo Uematsu |
| 12 | Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross | Suite | Yasunori Mitsuda |
| 13 | World of Warcraft | Suite | Jason Hayes |
| 14 | Silent Hill 2 | Theme of Laura | Akira Yamaoka |
| 15 | Halo | Suite | Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori |
| 16 | The Legend of Zelda | Suite | Kōji Kondō |
| 17 | Final Fantasy VII | One-Winged Angel | Nobuo Uematsu |
Additional titles performed in Chicago, USA:
- Suite from Oblivion (video game) – Jeremy Soule
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon – Nobuo Uematsu
- Main Theme from New Super Mario Bros. – Koji Kondo
- "Kiss Me Good-Bye" from Final Fantasy XII – Angela Aki
- "Eyes On Me" from Final Fantasy VIII – Faye Wong
Additional titles performed in Stockholm, Sweden:
2006:
- Suite from The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – Gustaf Grefberg
- Suite from Apidya – Chris Hülsbeck
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon (performed as encore) – Nobuo Uematsu
2007:
- Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI) – Nobuo Uematsu
Additional titles performed in Detroit, USA:
- Shadow of the Colossus – Kow Otani
- Stella Deus – Hitoshi Sakimoto
Additional titles performed in Philadelphia, USA and Vienna, USA:
- Prey (video game) – Jeremy Soule
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon (performed as encore) – Nobuo Uematsu
Additional titles performed in Toronto, Canada:
- "Let's Go Away" from Daytona USA (arcade game) – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
- Castlevania – Michiru Yamane
- Black (video game) – Chris C. Tilton
- Prey (video game) – Jeremy Soule
- Suite from Oblivion (video game) – Jeremy Soule
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon (performed as encore) – Nobuo Uematsu
Additional titles performed in San Jose, USA:
- Suite from The Darkness (video game) – Gustaf Grefberg
- Suite from Oblivion (video game) – Jeremy Soule
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon – Nobuo Uematsu
- Music from Lair (video game) – John Debney
Additional titles performed in Singapore:
- Main Theme from Lost Odyssey – Nobuo Uematsu
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon – Nobuo Uematsu
- Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI) – Nobuo Uematsu
- "Let's Go Away" from Daytona USA (arcade game) – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
- Suite from Oblivion (video game) – Jeremy Soule
- Suite from Castlevania – Michiru Yamane
- Music from Super Shinobi (performed as encore) – Yuzo Koshiro
Additional titles performed in Sydney:
- Main Theme from Lost Odyssey – Nobuo Uematsu
- Main Theme from Blue Dragon – Nobuo Uematsu
- Dancing Mad (Final Fantasy VI) – Nobuo Uematsu
- Suite from Oblivion (video game) - Jeremy Soule
- Suite from Castlevania - Michiru Yamane
Additional titles performed in Lillestrøm, Norway:
- Music from Dreamfall with vocals by Ingvild Hasund – Leon Willett
- Suite from Castlevania – Michiru Yamane
- Suite from Oblivion – Jeremy Soule
- Metallica's One from Guitar Hero performed with Machinae Supremacy and vocals by Øystein Fevang
[edit] Song trivia
| Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2008) |
- The Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross suite contains Reminiscence ~ Uneraseable Memories, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross ~ Scars of Time, Frog's Theme, and To Far Away Times.
- The Super Mario Bros. suite contains the overworld, water and underworld themes from Super Mario Bros., the title screen theme from Super Mario World, the Bob-omb Battlefield theme from Super Mario 64 and the clownhead-shaped vessel theme from Super Mario World.
- The Sonic the Hedgehog suite contains the title screen theme, the Green Hill, Marble, and Starlight Zone themes and the boss theme from the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
- The World of Warcraft suite contains the Stormwind theme, portions of Song of Elune and Legacy (exclusive tracks from the limited edition soundtrack, though a portion of the Song of Elune is played in-game) and the main title theme, Legends of Azeroth.
- Akira Yamaoka, best known as the composer of the music from the Silent Hill series, performed alongside the orchestra on electric guitar during the Chicago and Stockholm performance.
- The The Legend of Zelda suite contains the title themes from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, the overworld and labyrinth themes from The Legend of Zelda, and the rain scene, light world overworld and Dark World overworld themes from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
- The Castlevania suite contains "Vampire Killer" and "Wicked Child" from the original Castlevania and "A Toccata into Blood Soaked Darkness" from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.
[edit] See also
- Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy
- Symphonic Game Music Concert
- Tour de Japon
- Orchestral Game Concert
- Video Games Live
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Interview with the team behind PLAY!
- Video report about the PLAY! Premiere in Chicago, including composer interviews
- Review of Chicago PLAY! Premiere, interviews with Uematsu and Mitsuda
- Review of Toronto PLAY! Premiere, including photos, comments from Arnie Roth and Nobuo Uematsu
- Interview with the Producers and Conductors - Square Enix Music Online
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