Piano Opera: Final Fantasy VII/VIII/IX Has Been Announced!

Fans of Final Fantasy music rejoice!! The third Piano Opera: Final Fantasy album has been announced. For those unfamiliar with the Piano Opera albums, they are albums that feature piano arrangements of pieces from the Final Fantasy franchise. Despite the name, there is no actual opera music in any of these collections. Each album in this series focuses on three specific Final Fantasy games. The first Piano Opera album contained arrangements from Final Fantasy I, II, and III, while the second album featured the music of Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI. These first two albums were released back in 2012, with only a few months in between each release.

Predictably, this latest album will focus on the music from Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX. Tracks on this album will include “Opening ~ Bombing Mission” and “Those Who Fight Further,” from Final Fantasy VII; “Liberi Fatali” and “Force Your Way,” from Final Fantasy VIII; and “Rose of May” and “Melodies of Life,” from Final Fantasy IX. The album is set to be released on April 23, 2014 in Japan and will cost around 2,800 yen.

There is no word yet on a release date for the United States or Europe. Considering that the previous albums have received western releases, through services like iTunes, this album hopefully won’t be far behind. The Piano Opera: Final Fantasy VII/VIII/IX album will be available on Amazon Japan and Square Enix’s e-Store on the day of release. So for those of you outside of Japan, who have some skill at reading Japanese and don’t mind paying for importing the album, you will potentially have a means of acquiring this latest album on day one. I know that I’ll have this album on my wishlist. Hopefully we’ll be getting a release here in the west in the near future.