Passion

Game Event from Oracle - Thursday, 04 January 2007 @ 12:00am

Passion is brought to us by Eminence, the same crew who delivered a masterpiece at Town Hall in Sydney known as A Night in Fantasia 2006. After hearing Hiroaki had organised a smaller gathering of musicians to play at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music I knew I had to be there to witness what could be another beautiful hearing of Anime and Video Games music.

I asked Bel (My fiancé) if we could go, I must admit she loves this more than me so you can picture her pushing me to go. We arrived that night in the reception as we quickly received our tickets and walked in early. As the audience took their seats in the hall an announcer soon came out to greet the audience and to welcome the musicians to stage.

He introduced Ayako Ishikawa and Hiroaki Yura who were the main musicians for the evening on their violins. He later introduced Zane Banks on guitar, Joshua Hill on percussion and Natalia Raspopova on the Piano. As the audience were quietening down and the musicians taking there seats the announcer surprised as all by welcoming two special guests that had come from Japan, Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto.

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Yasunori is very well known for composing music for popular square titles such as Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. He has also contributed to Mario Party and Bomberman 64 and its sequels. Yasunori now runs his own company (Procyon Studio) which he has continued on titles such as the Shadow Hearts series, Breath of Fire V and is currently working on a Nintendo DS title called Luminous Arc. Yasunori was also going to play a few pieces with the group on stage this evening.

Secondly, Hitoshi is known as the veteran video gamer composer with almost 20 years experience. Hitoshi has worked on titles such as Treasure Hunter G (the very last Super Nintendo game) and Final Fantasy Tactics. He too runs his own company (Basiscape) and has worked on titles such as Breath of Fire V and Legaia: Duel Saga, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Gradius V and Atlus’ Stella Deus. Hitoshi is currently working on Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.

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As the audience were getting comfortable the band began to play. The Music List is listed below (not in playing order).

First Half
Digimon Arrangement	Digimon
Clan Headquarters	Final Fantasy XII
Victory Fanfare	Final Fantasy XII
Sakura	Xenosaga II
Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World	Chrono Cross
Is Kirite burning up?	Kirite
Pain	Xenosaga
Jalousie	Jacb Gade
Penelo’s Theme	Final Fantasy XII
Mai	.hack//Liminality
Promise with Winds – Petal’s Whereabouts	Kirite
Nocturne	Kirite
Super Mario Brothers Theme	Super Mario Brothers
Whole New World	Aladdin

Second Half
Sailing to the World	Sailing to the World
The Azure	Kirite
Free Bird	Haibane Renmei
Ending	Legaia Duel Legacy
Radical Dreamers ~Without taking the jewel~	Chrono Cross
Ferris Wheel	Colors of Life
Sunlight Earth	Shadow of the Colossus
Dance Macabre	Camille Saint-Saens
Two of Us	Shoot the Violist
Hungarian Dance	Johanne Brahms
Chrono Cross – Time’s Scar	Chrono Cross
A Song of Storm and Fire	Tsubasa Chronicle
Meridian Dance	Secret/Legend of Mana

If you ask any member of the audience which was their favourite piece played I guarantee you that most of them will say the Super Mario Brothers Theme. It was defiantly the highlight of the night as the musicians added a Jazzy style to the song which made the audience laugh and cheer the loudest for.

The band defiantly did have style that night, at times they would all put on sunglasses for some cool songs. It’s great to see the musicians having a sense of humour.

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Hiroaki at times talked to the audience for the first time in 3 years of hosting Eminence events. He joked about Yasunori and Hitoshi as well as a few members of the band he had behind him. Nearing the end of the concert Hiroaki began to talk about a Night in Fantasia 2007 which I’m very much looking forward to. He mentioned some of the pieces which will be played that night which include pieces from Final Fantasy series, Naruto series, and get this… World of Warcraft soundtrack!

The night was very relaxing and enjoyable for both of us; I look forward to April which A Night in Fantasia 2007 has been planned for. Until then, keep rockin guys.