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A SYMPHONY FOR A NEW ERA: Game music brought to life
Composer adapts scores to appeal to younger audience
By Brian Losoya
Video Games Live had its first performance on July 6, 2005 in the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra to a crowd of more than 11,000 concertgoers. The show itself is a symphony orchestra playing the scores of popular video games, from "Pong" to "Halo." There are also light shows and a screen on the stage that shows game videos. Occasionally, concertgoers are invited to the stage to play the games while the symphony performs. The musicians are drawn from local symphonies. Tommy Tallarico is a video game composer who has worked on some of the games that are dear to many players' hearts, such as "Metroid." His passion for the games led to the formation of Video Games Live. The Daily Texan spoke with Tallarico about the concert, its history and what to expect from the show. Daily Texan: Where did the idea for the symphony come from? Tommy Tallarico: Well, I've been a video game composer for 18 years now, and my partner Jack [Wall] is a conductor and has been doing video game music for 12 years. We wanted to prove to the world how sophisticated video game music really is. DT: Was it difficult to get the rights to some of the games? TT: You know, it was tough getting the rights for many of the scores and videos. I've worked in the industry for a while, but let me put it this way: We started putting the show together in 2002, and our first performance was in 2005. It was a new concept, and it was difficult to explain to people what we wanted to do. DT: Where has the symphony toured? TT: We've been all around the world - Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, China. Recently we performed to a 7,000-plus concert in Mexico. You'd be surprised. In many countries, mainstream artists that are popular here in America don't have the same success elsewhere, and the same goes for other international artists, but for video games, it's a world appeal. The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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Stan
posted 7/11/08 @ 7:29 PM CST
Where the fuck is this event? Goddamn Daily Texan you always do this!
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