Jason Michael Paul

Jason Michael Paul is an American-born concert producer, promoter, and entrepreneur. He is best known for the creation and production of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony as well as his work with Luciano Pavarotti and the Three Tenors. Most recently he has produced the 25th Anniversary Legend of Zelda concert series with Nintendo, and beginning in 2012, the successive concert series Legend Of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses.

Early Life Born into an entertainment family on February 23, 1977 in the Northern California town of Alameda, Jason Michael Paul spent his early life active in sports, learning to play guitar, drums, and piano. His passion for music helped drive his ambition for a later career in live music.

Early career Upon graduating from San Francisco State University in 1999 with a degree in Social Science, Paul moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in live-event production. After completing an internship with The Kenwood Group, Jason was hired by Richanbach and Associates. While he specialized in branding and environmental design, he also worked with Sony Playstation as a project manager for the company’s first interactive store, producing various in-store events, promotions, video game launches, parties and trade show booths . Eventually, Richanbach was acquired by Addwater Inc., where Jason continued to work for several years. While with Addwater, Jason continued as associate producer, working on many live events and concerts, some of which allowed him to work with the likes of Elton John and Michael McDonald. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment while with Addwater was when he brought in the Square Enix account and began his work producing product launches and press events, including work on the acclaimed Final Fantasy series. Combining his love of music and video games, Paul was able to continuously work with headliner talent and gain invaluable experience in the world of live entertainment. In 2003, Paul moved to Los Angeles to open his own production company, Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc., continuing to work in environmental design and branding for corporate and entertainment clients. It was during this time in LA that Jason met and developed a relationship with Hungarian entrepreneur Tibor Rudas, and eventually became the production manager for the very successful Pavarotti & The Three Tenors concert tours. This show took Jason around the globe to world-famous venues of all types. It was also in LA where he began his studies of the Japanese language and culture; an interest that would ultimately lead to the creation of Dear Friends: Music From Final Fantasy. While producing Pavarotti’s Farewell Tour in Japan at the Tokyo Forum, Jason pitched the idea for the concert to Square Enix executives.

Video Game Concerts The initial Dear Friends concert took place on May 10, 2004 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and was performed by the LA Philharmonic Orchestra and the LA Master Chorale. Miguel Harth-Bedoya served as conductor. The concert featured music from the video game franchise and was the first of it kind in North America to also feature visuals during the performance. The show was deemed “a complete success” by IGN and the NY Times and LA Times, and the pre-show scene was quoted by the LA Phil's president Deborah Borda as being “a virtual riot at the box office”. Due to the show’s great success, it was developed into an entire tour that enjoyed a 12-city run from 2004-5, with Arnie Roth Serving as conductor. During the Dear Friends tour, Paul developed and produced a single-event show, More Friends: Music From Final Fantasy on May 16, 2005. The event, also conducted by Arnie Roth, was held at the Gibson Ampitheatre in Los Angeles and played to rave reviews. In addition to gorgeous game scores and brilliant visuals, the production featured music from Japanese instrumental rock group The Black Mages. They performed their songs “The Rocking Grounds” and “Maybe I’m A Lion”, and joined with the orchestra to perform “One Winged Angel”, while RIKKI sang “Suteki da Ne” as she had in the original game. Emiko Shiratori performed both the Japanese and English versions of “Melodies of Life” in a single piece, and opera singers Stephanie Woodling, Chad Berlinghier, and Todd Robinson sang the vocal components of the “Opera Maria and Draco”. CSUF University Singers performed as part of “One Winged Angel” adding to the powerful and dynamic performance. This show was made into a live-recording and released on Sony, later being heralded by Sophia of Square Enix Music Online as "An album with a little bit of everything" and "a must-have for any Final Fantasy fan".

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony In 2006, based on the success of the Dear Friends tour, Paul created PLAY! A Video Game Symphony. The series, played by live orchestras and featuring a catalog of music and video from blockbuster franchises past and present, premiered on May 27, 2006 at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago with Arnie Roth serving as conductor. The premiere show featured performances by legendary composers Koji Kondo, Angela Aki, and Akira Yamaoka, and luminary composers Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda and Jeremy Soule in attendance. Paul describes the series as a “straight forward music program” designed “to keep the arts alive in a way that is classy. On June 7, 2011 at Nintendo's E3 press event, Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc. produced a four minute overture spanning 25 years of Zelda music accompanied by images from the same period. It was after this performance that Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo announced the orchestral CD that would accompany the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and the 25th Anniversary concert series to be performed in Tokyo, LA, and London, all of which were to be produced by Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc. Evolving from the 25th anniversary concert series will be JMP’s The Legend of Zelda: Symphony Of The Goddesses, kicking off Jan 2012 in Dallas and scheduled for a complete world tour in the same year.

Coffee Bar Coffee Bar opened in late 2007 as the brainchild of Jason Paul and Luigi DiRuocco, two Alameda natives and childhood friends who reconnected while living in San Francisco in 2006. Jason, being involved in live entertainment production, was spending his days working out of cafes around the city; Luigi, on the other hand, was active with Mr. Espresso, his father’s coffee-roasting business based out of Oakland. They both shared a vision for opening a shop that combined their passion for coffee with a useful, community-oriented space. Still thriving in 2012, Coffee Bar has since opened a new location in SF’s FIDI district and has plans to open several more.