Video game music will return to London’s famous Barbican Centre with the London Symphony Orchestra as Merregnon Studios’ much-loved Square Enix tribute concert, Symphonic Fantasies London, makes its debut UK performance on October 6th, 2016.
Conducted by Eckehard Stier, with arrangements by Merregnon Studios’ Jonne Valtonen and Roger Wanamo, Symphonic Fantasies London is the ultimate concert experience for Japanese RPG fans as it features classic tracks from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.
Accompanying the London Symphony Orchestra on stage will be the London Symphony Chorus, along with talented soloists Slava Sidorenko and Rony Barrak, in what will be the LSO’s seventh live video game concert performance. This follows sell-out Final Symphony II concerts earlier this year in both London and Japan, as well as recording the chart-topping Final Symphony album at Abbey Road Studios.
Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura will appear on stage for a special ticketed, pre-concert talk. Here she’ll talk about her long and highly successful career in video game music, as well as take questions from the audience in what will be an entertaining and informative evening.
“It’s so exciting to be back at the Barbican with the LSO for another epic video game concert performance,†said Symphonic Fantasies London producer, Thomas Böcker. “Following the success of Final Symphony I & II and Symphonic Legends London, this venue feels like a second home to me and I’m so pleased to finally be able to bring Symphonic Fantasies to a UK audience. I’m incredibly proud of the work my team put into these arrangements and I’m sure you will be blown away when you hear the LSO perform them live.â€
“Video game music concerts are something we always look forward to working on,†said Gareth Davies, the LSO’s Principal Flute. “Not only is the music incredibly well written and challenging to perform, which makes it a delight to play, but the reaction from the fans is always amazing. We love performing to such attentive and appreciative audiences and can’t wait to share the wonderful music of *Symphonic Fantasies London* with you all next year.â€
Tickets for Symphonic Fantasies London go on sale tomorrow, December 11th, from 10am, and range in price from £30 to £65. Tickets for the pre-concert talk with Yoko Shimomura will also go on sale at the same time, priced at £10 each.
Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo, performed in Japan by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, is currently available to buy on iTunes.