The video above is the opening fanfare written by Jonne Valtonen for the forthcoming Symphonic Fantasies concert. Symphonic Fantasies is the new SquareEnix tribute concert arranged by Valtonen and conducted by Arnie Roth, the man behind the baton for many other video game themed productions (including Germany's previous Symphonic Shades event and the forthcoming Final Fantasy-centric Distant Worlds world tour...more on that later.) According to organizer Thomas Boecker:
"The concert will be performed on September 12, 2009 by the WDR Radio Orchestra, WDR Radio Choir, and several soloists (e. g. Rony Barrak), conducted by Arnie Roth. We are glad to have more than 120 professional musicians on stage again, this time at the beautiful 2,000+ venue Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, Germany. We will perform 70+ minutes of music, and for that we decided for the Final Fantasy series, the Kingdom Hearts series, the Mana series, and the Chrono series."
As for the opening fanfare, Valtonen describes it himself:
"My fanfare is a spirit lifter and appetizer that hopefully takes your mind off from your normal daily activities and sets you in a concert hall. Like when you start reading a book, it always takes some pages before you really get into the story and the real world disappears around you. So that when the music of SquareEnix starts, you would already be tuned to the orchestra and on the music and not somewhere else mentally."
More info on the show should arrive sometime in April.
(Special thanks to Thomas for the continued updates!)
I want this so, so badly. I'm a huge symphonicfag. I'm in love with Video Games Live but this shit would simply blow my small mind. Too bad I don't believe that they're coming to a place anywhere near me in the near future.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!