Video Game Orchestra (VGO) is a Boston-based project that performs its own "rockestral" arrangements of video game music with a rock band, vocals, and orchestra. The project was created by
Shota Nakama, a Boston-based producer from Okinawa, Japan. Comparative to the other existing major video game concert acts, which mostly focus on the pure orchestral performances, the rock band element is the core essence of the VGO. Their concerts are presented as a rock show with entertaining audience engagement and improvised solos.
History
Formation and debut
Video Game Orchestra was founded by
Shota Nakama, a graduate from
Berklee College of Music and
The Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater.
Boston Conservatory was founde ...
, in May 2008.
VGO became comprised by a group of Boston-based professional musicians, assembled by Shota himself. His own intentions with the group was to deliver something very different and fresh to the world. VGO's debut concert, A Night of Symphonic Video Game Music, was held at Gordon Chapel in
Old South Church in Boston on July 2, 2008. The orchestra, or rather a small ensemble of 28 musicians including Shota himself playing the guitar, performed the music from popular titles such as
Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
,
Chrono Trigger
is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first game in the ''Chrono'' series. The game's development team included three designers th ...
,
Chrono Cross
is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is set in the same world as ''Chrono Trigger'', which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. ''Chrono C ...
,
Legend of Mana, and
Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces opera ...
. Their second concert was held at Church of the Covenant of Boston on November 2, 2008, which also saw the addition of a full rock band and choir.
The ensemble
Video Games Orchestra comprises a group of musicians, both young and established talents from local communities, as well as talents from around the world. Featuring a rock band consisting of drums, two guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion, violin soloist and one/two vocalist led by Shota Nakama.
The band is usually accompanied by a string section or orchestra. Regular members performers of the orchestra include; During international shows, VGO frequently features local talents as special guests and ensembles for the performances. For instance the Kumamoto Orchestra during their Capcom Live show at Kyushu and a local China Jazz horn section during ChinaJoy.
2009
VGO's concert on March 5 at the Berklee Performance Center was sold out and became a landmark for Berklee College of Music by being the first concert of its kind that the school participated in. In attendance were four of America's most prolific video game composers, Jack Wall, Gerard Marino, Duncan Watt, and Keith Zizza with Wall conducting his own compositions with the VGO. It received heavy promotion and the orchestra was featured on NECN News, Boston Globe, and numerous other papers, radio stations, and websites around the world.
On May 7, 2009,
Independent Game Conference
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independen ...
hosted VGO as its closing event and was held at Fenway Center in Boston. This concert featured the VGO chamber group outfit for the first time in a very intimate acoustic setting.
The group was asked to perform at
Anime Boston as the opening act for the main musical guest,
Kalafina
was a Japanese vocal group formed by composer Yuki Kajiura in 2007, mainly to perform theme songs for the anime ''Kara no Kyōkai'', but later expanded to include many other theme songs for other anime shows and films including the '' Madoka Mag ...
and
Yuki Kajiura
Yuki, Yūki or Yuuki may refer to:
Places
* Yuki, Hiroshima (Jinseki), a town in Jinseki District, Hiroshima, Japan
* Yuki, Hiroshima (Saeki), a town in Saeki District, Hiroshima, Japan
* Yūki, Ibaraki, a city on Honshu island in Japan
* Y ...
. The concert was held at
Hynes Convention Center
The John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center is a convention center located in Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1988 from a design by architects Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood. It replaced the John B. Hynes Memorial Auditorium, also ...
Auditorium on May 23, 2009. VGO featured its chamber group along with the rock band. To honor the presence of Yuki Kajiura, they included an Anime song from
Tsubasa Chronicle
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably '' xxxHolic''. The plot follows how Sakura, the prince ...
that Kajiura composed in their set list. VGO also had a special appearance at the end of the Music for Video Games workshop at Berklee College of Music.
Norihiko Hibino
is a Japanese video game composer and saxophonist.
Biography
Hibino was born in Osaka. He graduated from the Osaka University School of Human Sciences in 1996. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1997, he moved to Kansas City to s ...
, a composer from the ''
Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces opera ...
'' franchise, attended the concert.
After a year of experimenting with different performance styles, the VGO decided to return to their full orchestra size for their big show in their home town of Boston. The concert entitled ~Awakening~ was held at the Berklee Performance Center and took place on December 5, 2009. ~Awakening~ featured an accomplished film/game composer,
Wataru Hokoyama
is a Japanese composer, conductor, and orchestrator based in Hollywood, California. He left his birth nation of Japan at the age of 16 to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. He later attended the Cleveland Institut ...
.
2010
During
PAX
Pax or PAX may refer to:
Peace
* Peace (Latin: ''pax'')
** Pax (goddess), the Roman goddess of peace
** Pax, a truce term
* Pax (liturgy), a salutation in Catholic and Lutheran religious services
* Pax (liturgical object), an object formerly ki ...
East 2010 at Hynes Convention Center in March 2010, VGO was featured as one of seven musical guests, performing alongside more visible and tenured performers such as
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...
and
The Protomen
The Protomen are an American rock band, who started their career on and are perhaps most widely known for composing concept albums loosely based on the video game series '' Mega Man''. Their stage names are largely references to pop culture film ...
. Starting the proceedings on the first day of concerts, their performance was hailed as the best of the night. Capped with a standing ovation and incessant chants. The show was so successful that PAX East has invited the group back each year since.
VGO returned for Anime Boston at Hynes Convention Center on April 2, 2010, this time with its full group unlike the previous year. The convention guest of honor,
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton ...
, had a surprise appearance on
One Winged Angel during the encore, marking one of the first times the famous composer has performed alongside a video game cover band.
2011 and breakthrough
During 2011, VGO reached another milestone by performing at the Boston Symphony Hall which marked the first time that video game music was featured as a main draw in the venue. The show was titled Back to the Future ~Rockestral Renditions of Timeless Video Game and Film Music~ and sold out all tickets within only days, and was attended by music industry legends such as Alan Silvestri and Howard Shore. The show was a monumental success, and gained VGO nationwide coverage and high praise from the music communities.
The group spent the rest of the year touring conventions and video game festivals, including making their first appearance at PAX Prime in Seattle on January 13, 2011.
Announced in November 2011, VGO was selected to perform for
Distant Worlds for a March 10, 2012 Concert.
2012: Distant Worlds, Kickstarter and China Tour
After Nakama appeared as a special guest during a concert in Pittsburgh on February 25, VGO was personally selected by conductor
Arnie Roth
Arnold Roth (born April 28, 1953) is an American conductor, composer, and record producer. His work includes conducting concerts for video game music. He is also a classically trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music g ...
as the orchestra to perform the world touring Distant Worlds program on their tour stop in Boston, officially sanctioned by
Square Enix and based on the legendary Final Fantasy video game franchise. The concert was held on March 10 in
Boston Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts, opened in 1900. Designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, it was built for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the ...
, and gained high praise and sold out within mere days of tickets being put on sale.
After several convention shows, a new concert was announced in August titled ~Live At Symphony Hall~, and would see VGO return to Boston Symphony Hall after their success with Distant Worlds. Uniquely, a Kickstarter campaign was launched at the same time as the concert was announced in order to fund an official live recording album, to be released in Spring of 2013. Setting the goal amount at $30,000, the campaign would in the end go past the projected end sum and raise over $37,000.
~Live At Symphony Hall~ was held on October 7. The event was sold out, and in attendance was 4 of Japan's most prolific names in the video game music industry,
Kinuyo Yamashita
is a Japanese composer and musician known for her contributions in video games. Her best known soundtrack is Konami's '' Castlevania'', which was also her debut work. She was co-credited with Satoe Terashima under the pseudonym James Banana for ...
,
Yoko Shimomura
is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. She wrote music for several game ...
,
Noriyuki Iwadare
is a Japanese video game composer.
Biography
Iwadare was born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He began to compose video game music after years of being involved with university bands. He began composing for Toaplan, arranging the ...
, and
Hitoshi Sakimoto
is a Japanese video game music composer and arranger. He is best known for scoring ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Final Fantasy XII'', though he has composed soundtracks for over 80 other games. He began playing music and video games in elemen ...
. Each composer was honored by a piece based on their works, including the first time music from the game
Grandia
is a series of role-playing video games developed by Game Arts and published over the years by Entertainment Software Publishing, Sony Computer Entertainment, Ubisoft, Hudson Soft, Enix, Square Enix and GungHo Online Entertainment. Games in th ...
was performed live by an orchestra outside Japan. The concert saw a large amount of international media and attention, including being featured on the Japanese television network
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
for their El Mundo program, as well as a large interview in
Asahi Shimbun
is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...
.
Building on their success from ~Live At Symphony Hall~, VGO embarked on their first international tour, doing a 4 show tour in China. The tour marked the first time a video game based music act has toured China, and drew over 9,000 attendees.
2013: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Riding off the success of their performances at Distant Worlds and the many PAXs they've attended, VGO was invited as a special guest for the 11th iteration of
MagFest
MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival, originally the Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival) is an annual festival held in the Washington metropolitan area that celebrates video games and video game music, as well as their surrounding culture. MAGFest's pri ...
, playing alongside nerdcore stalwarts
Brentalfloss
Brent Black (born April 12, 1984), also known as brentalfloss, is a musician who adds lyrics to classic video game titles, such as '' Punch-Out!!'', '' Mega Man 2'', '' Super Mario 3D World'', and ''Donkey Kong Country''. He also has original son ...
and
Powerglove. MagFest XI took place in the
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
The Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center is a hotel and convention center located at National Harbor, Prince George's County, in the U.S. state of Maryland. The hotel is situated along the shores of the Potomac, downriver from Washingto ...
from January 3–6, 2013.
VGO developed new acoustic style show was created uniquely for U-CON, held at the UCONN Student Union on February 16, featuring all new arrangements of many of their most popular songs from their repertoire. In March 2013, VGO once again headlined PAX East.
On June 12 at E3, Square Enix, Video Game Orchestra and Masashi Hamauzu jointly announced their partnership for the game
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. VGO producer Shota Nakama was tasked to orchestrate Hamauzu's compositions for the game, and the orchestrated performances were recorded in VGO's studios in Boston, MA.
2016: Capcom Live
In 2016, Video Games Orchestra performed the official Capcom live starting with Oita to Kumamoto then Fukuoka ending in Okinawa. Following that, the group by a local interviewed by a local TV programme which was broadcast all over Japan.
2018: VGO X Final Fantasy XV
During this year, Video Games Orchestra performed at the notable events in the United States such as Anime Boston and PAX East 2018. During PAX East 2018, Video Games Orchestra collaborated with Final Fantasy XV in performing legendary pieces from the game soundtrack. Later that year, VGO performed in China's biggest gaming event Chinajoy alongside a group of local talented horn section.
2019: International Tour
By this time, Video Games Orchestra has taken the world by storm and has expanded their tour to various parts of the world in events such as Brasil Game Show held at
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, Thailand Game Show at Bangkok and Level Up KL in Kuala Lumpur.
2020: Going Full Online
This year due to the unfortunate pandemic COVID-19 which struck the world, Video Games Orchestra has taken the first step and performed their first ever show online performing directly to fans all over the world.
Live at Symphony Hall + Kickstarter
The most notable work of Video Games Orchestra has been their ~Live At Symphony Hall~ which would see VGO return to Boston Symphony Hall after their success with Distant Worlds. The show held at Boston Symphony Hall, which was quickly sold out, featured music from famous games the most notable being Chrono Trigger and God of War amongst other noteworthy titles. The concert saw a large amount of international media and attention, including being featured on the Japanese television network NHK for their El Mundo program, as well as a large interview in Asahi Shimbun.
At the same time, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund an official live recording album, which was released in Spring of 2013. Setting the goal amount at $30,000, the campaign would in the end go past the projected end sum and raise over $37,000.
The music of Video Games Orchestra Live at Symphony Hall can be found on Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music among other streaming services and sites
Social media and Youtube
Video Games Orchestra frequently interacts with fans all over the world and makes announcements on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. VGO's VGOonline YouTube Channel has been active from 2012 with videos of their live shows.
Discography
*''Rockestral Game Music'' - Independent, promotional release (September, 2011)
*''~Live at Symphony Hall~'' - Kickstarter-funded, live album (April, 2013)
*''Live in Brazil'' - live album (October, 2021)
References
External links
*
*
{{authority control
American orchestras
Musical groups from Boston
Musical groups established in 2008
Video game music cover bands
2008 establishments in Massachusetts