London

Events, Game Music

All Your Bass, Game Music Festival Debuts in England in 2018

November 20, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on All Your Bass, Game Music Festival Debuts in England in 2018 Share this

The National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham, England has announced the debut dates and details for its new game music and audio festival All Your Bass. Taking place January 19th and 20th, 2018, All Your Bass will bring performances, talks, and more to The National Videogame Arcade and the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham.

Masaya Matsuura will be on hand to talk about his pioneering work in the “rhythm action” genre that brought us PaRappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy, and more. The National Videogame Arcade will also be presenting the unique soundtrack for its building which was commissioned by Matsuura. On more hometown turf, legendary British game music composer, Rob Hubbard, will present a “director’s commentary”, a behind-the-scenes discussion of his musical influences and the technology he used through the heyday of the UK’s classic computer game era.

The announced performances will bring unique experiences to the concert hall setting. Friday evening closes with a special edition of the recently announced Dear Esther Live tour. The Liverpool Philharmonic and Thomas McMullen will be joined by Dear Esther composer Jessica Curry to perform, play, and narrate the experience followed by a post-show discussion with Curry.

Later in the weekend, classical music composer Maria Kallionpää and the University of Nottingham’s Mixed Reality Lab will present ‘Climb!’. A virtuoso piece composed for ‘Live Pianist, Disklavier and Interactive System’, tests the skills of the performer with the interactive system mimicking an invisible chamber music partner. This “partner” presents the challenge by jumping to different points in the score, keeping the performer and audience on their toes.

Check out the NVA’s site for updated ticket and event info or use our handy new Events Calendar to keep tabs on All Your Bass and other game music performances.
Events, Japanese

Symphonic Odysseys and Uematsu come to London this Summer

February 10, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Symphonic Odysseys and Uematsu come to London this Summer Share this

Merregnon Studios, the group behind the Square Enix-focused Final Symphony and Symphonic Fantasies concerts have announced that their 2011 sell-out concert, Symphonic Odysseys, is coming to London this Summer. Unlike their previous shows, Symphonic Odysseys is focused solely on the music of Nobuo Uematsu — from Blue Dragon to Lost Odyssey and naturally, Final Fantasy — and was last performed nearly a year ago in Paris.

Those who couldn’t make it to France in 2016 have a chance to see the show again on June 20th, 2017 at the Barbican Centre. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Eckehard Stier (with the London Symphony Chorus, acclaimed pianist Mischa Cheung and a full kazoo fanfare), the arrangements come from the same team behind Final Symphony, Jonne Valtonen and Roger Wanamo. Uematsu himself will also be at the venue for a special ticketed, pre-concert Q&A session.

“Nobuo Uematsu has been a musical hero of mine for many years and it’s both a delight and a pleasure that we can celebrate his work with such an amazing concert in London,” said Symphonic Odysseys London producer, Thomas Böcker. “It’s always great to be back at the Barbican Centre, but I’m particularly excited that Uematsu-san can join us for what will be our 10th concert with the London Symphony Orchestra. Fans will not want to miss hearing Uematsu’s classic compositions, along with some of his less well known, but equally wonderful works too.”

Tickets go on sale February 10th with prices between £30 ($38) to £65 ($82). Tickets for the pre-concert talk with Nobuo Uematsu will also go on sale at the same time, priced at £10 ($13) each. Those interested can buy their tickets through the Symphonic Odysseys site or directly from the Barbican Centre. Below is the announced set list:

Opening Fanfare

The Final Fantasy Legend / Final Fantasy Legend 2

On Windy Meadows (from Final Fantasy XIV)

Waterside (from Blue Dragon)

Final Fantasy Concerto – For Piano and Orchestra

King’s Knight BGM – Pretty Day Out – (from King’s Knight)

Light of Silence (from Chrono Trigger)

Spreading Your Wings (from The Last Story)

Lost Odyssey Suite

If you can’t make the show or are just looking to relive Merregnon’s past performances check out Ryan’s recent article on the vinyl editions of both Final Symphony and Symphonic Fantasies from Laced Records.
Events

‘Mario! A Super Musical’ hits London for Festival Fringe

April 7, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on ‘Mario! A Super Musical’ hits London for Festival Fringe Share this

The London Games Festival is the parent organization behind events including BAFTA’s British Academy Game Awards, EGX Rezzed, and the ongoing Festival Fringe. Taking place through April 10th at venues all around London, the festivities aim to promote the games and interactive entertainment sectors. Amongst the tournaments, interactive performances and marketplace is one particularly note-worthy show for fans of Nintendo and video game music.

‘Mario! A Super Musical’ is the creation of writer and director James Burrows. A total subversion of Mario’s traditional tropes, Burrows came up with the idea of pairing the series with a musical stage performance while playing through the games.

“I realized that the stupid little songs I sang I as I played Mario games could actually be strung into a fun little narrative,” he says. But it’s not the typical Bowser/Peach damsel setup. In Burrows’ version Bowser finally nabs Mario, leaving Peach and Luigi to become the crooning heroes who venture through Nintendo history to save the day.

Unlike the crude or one-off “Mario Musicals” you can find on YouTube, ‘Mario! A Super Musical’is a full production with 20 songs all based on remixes of classic Nintendo tunes that set and tie the story together. There’s a duet between Mario and Luigi based on the Mario theme, a “Tetris Bowser” villain song and even a Les Miserables-style “One Day More” number to the tune of Gusty Garden Galaxy. Burrows promises plenty of cameos, surprise romances and a ridiculous amount of terrible puns as well.

The performance stars a cast of U.K. based drama students who received standing ovations at the first two showings in Nottingham. The venue for their Saturday show as part of the London Games Festival Fringe is the Stratford Circus theatre. Tickets are still available for those readers nearby and if you do get to attend, let us know what you thought!
Events, Game Music

Ministry of Sound Event Honors Sega’s Legacy with Games & Music

November 15, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | 2 Comments Share this

OSV readers who’ll be in London on November 28th, take note! REZtron, a pop-up purveyor of social retrogaming events, has booked a very special #SEGASaturday at the world famous Ministry of Sound. It’s an all-Sega night with four generations of consoles represented on grungy CRT TVs and huge projectors. All the hits from the Master System, Mega Drive (Genesis), Saturn and Dreamcast will be playable while DJs spin “Hip Hop, House and Video Game music from the 80’s and 90’s”.

#SEGASaturday starts at 6pm with an after party until 6am (gosh! really?) featuring DJs James Zabiela and Olivier Giacomotto. Early Bird Tickets start at £7.50 and can be purchased through Designmynight.com. Competitions and giveaways sweeten the deal with the promise that you could “win a Mega Drive” while playing these and other classic Sega games: Golden Axe, OutRun, Space Harrier, Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage 2, Alien Storm, Sonic 2, Thunderforce III, Virtua Racing, Shadow Dancer, World Cup Italia ’90, 8-player Micro Machines 2, Virtua Fighter 2, Wipeout, Virtua Tennis, House of the Dead 2, Rez, Space Channel 5, Soul Calibur.

Any OSV readers out there planning to attend?
Events, Game Music

Game Music Connect 2015 Date Announced

March 31, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Game Music Connect 2015 Date Announced Share this Game Music Connect 2015 Date Announced

If you’re looking for a reason to nip over to England this fall, the date for this year’s Game Music Connect has just been announced for September 15, 2015 in London at the Southbank Centre!

For the uninitiated, Game Music Connect is the video game music industry’s equivalent to the Game Developers Conference, features workshops and symposiums dedicated to various facets of the game music industry. This year’s big focus is “Scoring Virtual Reality”, and will explore the role of music in VR environments and how music and design must interact to bring the entire experience together (Something interesting for those who followed the recent [NUREN] Kickstarter and wanted to know how music is tackled within VR games). Other workshops include “Sample Library Creation”, “Mixing Mockups” and more! Beyond the event founders James Hannigan (Harry Potter games, Command & Conquer) and John Broomhall (X-COM, Forza 5), last year’s event also featured industry guests such as Jason Graves (Dead Space, The Order: 1886) Gary Schyman (Bioshock Infinite, Dante’s Inferno) and more!

With this being it’s third year, Game Music Connect hopes to continue bringing together pro and semi-pro musicians and composers of game music to share talks about their experiences, showcase demo reels, participate in demonstrations and more. Tickets and info for the event can be found on the event’s website and feature an early bird deal until May 31st for those wanting to get in on the event early.

Game Music Connect 2015 – Website | Facebook

Source: Top Dollar PR