Merregnon Studios

The Symphonic Game Music Concerts are a series of award-winning, annual video game music concerts initiated in 2003, notable for being the longest running and the first of their kind outside Japan.[2][3][4] They are produced and directed by Thomas Böcker and performed by various orchestras.[6][7][8] From 2003 to 2007, GC in Concert took place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. From 2008 to 2013, new video game music performances were presented in cooperation with the WDR. From 2013, new programmes eventually embarked on a world tour.

In late 2007, Böcker announced that he was producing Symphonic Shades, a concert exclusively dedicated to the music of German game composer Chris Hülsbeck, taking place on 23 August 2008.[9] Tickets for it were sold out after six days,[10] prompting the producers to schedule a second concert[11] that would be performed to another sold-out audience at 11 p.m. on the same day of the Symphonic Shades world premiere.[12] The event marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert.[13]

In February 2008, Böcker mentioned some considerations about a continuation of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series in Cologne.[14] The plans were later confirmed by Winfried Fechner who announced Symphonic Fantasies, a video game music concert that took place in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall on 12 September 2009.[15] Tickets for the event sold out quickly, necessitating a second concert at the König-Pilsener-Arena in Oberhausen, on 11 September 2009.[16] In addition to the live performances, the concert saw a radio broadcast on WDR4 and, for the first time, enabled viewers world-wide to experience the event via live video streaming.[17] A CD edited and mixed at the WDR Studios and mastered at Abbey Road Studios was released in Japan on 15 September 2010 by Square Enix and in Germany on 17 September 2010 by the Universal Music Group label Decca Records.[18][19] The CD entered the Media Control Charts Germany (Classic Top-20 Charts) for sales in September 2010 at position No. 13.[20]

Symphonic Fantasies was met with considerable praise and feedback from attendants, causing the announcement of another Symphonic Game Music Concert entitled Symphonic Legends.[8][21] Taking place in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall on 23 September 2010 (Nintendo was founded on 23 September 1889), the complete concert was conducted by Niklas Willén for the first time, whereas Jonne Valtonen again served as main arranger and as composer of the opening piece called "Fanfare for the Common 8-bit Hero".[22][23] Additional music was contributed by Roger Wanamo and guest arrangers Shiro Hamaguchi, Hayato Matsuo, Masashi Hamauzu and Torsten Rasch.[24] The event focused on music from Nintendo and featured the titles Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country, Metroid, F-Zero, StarFox, Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda.[25] Tickets for Symphonic Legends sold out on 19 March 2010.[26] In addition to the performance, the concert saw a live radio broadcast on WDR4 in 5.1 surround sound, a world-wide live audio streaming and live video streaming, available in Germany.[27][28]

On 9 July 2011, the WDR Radio Orchestra presented Symphonic Odysseys at the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne. The concert exclusively paid homage to the work of composer Nobuo Uematsu.[18] Tickets went on sale 1 December 2010 and sold out within 12 hours,[29] prompting the producers to announce a second concert to be performed at 3 p.m. on the same day.[30] With both concerts sold out, Symphonic Odysseys marked the biggest video game music event in Germany so far.[31]

In May 2012, Böcker announced his tenth major concert production entitled Final Symphony, featuring music from Final Fantasy VI, VII and X. The world premiere of the performance took place on 11 May 2013 and was presented by the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. Another performance of the concert took place on 30 May 2013: The first live performance of video game music by the London Symphony Orchestra. Final Symphony had follow-up performances in Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, the USA, New Zealand, China, Austria and Australia. Final Symphony Tokyo was the first video game music concert ever to be greeted with standing ovations in Japan.[32]

Böcker is the creator, director and producer of the family concert Merregnon: Land of Silence, its music was written exclusively by Japanese game composer Yoko Shimomura. The world premiere took place with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2021, and a concert film of the performance was released the same year in September, worldwide free to watch on demand. International live performances of the programme have already been announced.[33]

For the tenth anniversary of the popular action role-playing video game Skyrim by Bethesda Softworks, Merregnon Studios produced a concert film with the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices at the Alexandra Palace in London in 2021. The film, which was made available to watch on YouTube, received over one million views within a few weeks.[34]

The Chamber Music Game Concerts (German: Kammermusik-Spielekonzerte) performed by a string ensemble and the school concerts Heroes of our Imagination (German: Helden unserer Phantasie) and Super Mario Galaxy – A Musical Adventure (German: Super Mario Galaxy – Ein musikalisches Abenteuer) are three subseries of events also produced by Thomas Böcker.[8]

The free of charge First Chamber Music Game Concert in 2005 was held as part of the gaming tournament GC-Cup at the Augustusplatz in Leipzig,[35] while the latter two took place in 2006, alongside a GC – Games Convention press conference event and the historical exhibition Nintendo – Vom Kartenspiel zum Game Boy of the Landesmuseum Koblenz.[36]

The four school concerts Heroes of Imagination in 2006 were intended to show differences and similarities between classical music and game music and to make orchestra concerts more accessible to a younger audience.[36] They were supported by Nintendo, Square Enix and Sega.[37] In January 2010, five additional school concerts were performed by the same orchestra. The series was entitled Super Mario Galaxy – A Musical Adventure and was the spiritual successor to the well-received Heroes of Imagination events.[38][39] Modeled after and acting as a modern-day Peter and the Wolf, the musical segments of the concerts were interspersed with narrations of the storyline of Super Mario Galaxy,[38] with the performances having been officially licensed and sponsored by Nintendo.[38]