Australian Gamer Feature :: Interview with Hiroaki Yura

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Interview with Hiroaki Yura

Oracle interviews Hiroaki Yura, Founder of Eminence (Organisers of such events as 'A Night in Fantasia), Artistic Director, and Violinist.

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I managed to grab Hiroaki Yura (Founder of Eminence, Artistic Director and Violinist) and ask him a few quick questions before he headed off to his rehearsal of A Night in Fantasia 2007. I would like to personally thank Kerryn Nelson and Shanthi Pathmanathan for helping me organise a time with Hiro. Below is what was recorded from the phone conversation that evening, enjoy.

Oracle: Hey Hiro, it’s Oracle from Australian Gamer mate, how are you?

Hiroaki: I’m alright

Oracle: Good to hear, I’m just going to ask you a few quick questions.

Hiroaki: Sure.

Oracle: We’ll start off by updating our listeners that you have recently won a few awards such as the 7th Etoh Toshiya International Violin Competition for Young Violinists and you were a prize winner for the Gisbourne International Music Competition held in New Zealand. Plus, you’ve played as a soloist for the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and have performed with the Nippon Symphony Orchestra held in Japan. Mate, that’s outstanding, anything I’ve missed?

Hiroaki: *laughs* You’ve missed a whole lot, but I think that’s enough.

Oracle: Yeah, we’ll leave it there. So what got you into playing the violin?

Hiroaki: Well, my mum made me play it when I was six and by the time I was twelve I was pretty good. There was actually an 18 year old Japanese girl who won the Tchaikovsky Violin International Competition and it’s nearly impossible for a foreigner to win the Tchaikovsky competition because 1) it was so political and 2) it was so precocious. And so she won it at the age of 18 which was at the time the youngest age group and obviously the chairman got fired immediately after the competition. So all this kinda inspired me because she played so well and so I decided that I wanted to be like her. No, I don’t want to be like a girl *laughs*

Oracle: So is the violin the first instrument you learned and have you played any other instrument?

Hiroaki: I did play a little bit of piano but it wasn’t for me, my mum was also a piano teacher so she tried to teach it to me first but it never got along so I was like ‘Nah..’ *laughs* So I gave that up when I was about 5 or maybe 6.

Oracle: So what got you motivated to set up an orchestra to specifically play Anime and Video Game music?

Hiroaki: Mainly because I like video games. *laughs*

Oracle: Hah, that answers my next question if you preferred anime of video games.

Hiroaki: Actually I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say this because I just recorded the soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet but I found Anime to be a pain because you’ve gotta sit and watch like a couple of episodes to keep you in suspense to make you watch the next episode and you know…

Oracle: So it’s more of an addiction?

Hiroaki: Yeah exactly, I don’t mind a quick action game and such but I prefer more building up games like RPG

Oracle: So are you into Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda? (I know Zelda’s not RPG)

Hiroaki: Yeah, I remember playing the original Zelda on the Nintendo. That was pretty awesome, I mean like, it was pretty good back then. And Final Fantasy, I got into when it came to about Final Fantasy VII and VIII and recently I played III and I thought that was pretty good too.

Oracle: Oh, cool. So was it tough at first getting musicians, music and sponsors together to kick off some of your very first shows?

Hiroaki: Yeah, it was pretty tough. I mean, there was no sponsors, but there were people who lent their names but didn’t do much in terms of support and everything came out which wasn’t much anyway, so yeah it was pretty bad also because people didn’t get paid enough.

Oracle: So this is Eminence’s forth performance of A Night in Fantasia. What makes A Night in Fantasia 2007 Eminence’s biggest and best performance yet?

Hiroaki: Actually it’s technically our fifth performance.

Oracle: Oh, the fifth? Sorry about that. Google failed me.

Hiroaki: *laughs* Yeah, it came to be in 2003.

Oracle: Ah, cool.

Hiroaki: We’ve got one of the other four gods which is Yasunori Mitsuda plus others which makes it 1 point something or even 2 to put something if you give me the score *laughs* Well basically, we’ve got heaps of guests who are very famous and have a celebrity status in Japan, I mean these guys get stalked in Japan. *laughs* that’s how big it is, and never in history or in a video game concert has this caliver of musicians ever been all in one spot.

Oracle: Oh wow.

Hiroaki: Yeah, this is how big it is.

Oracle: So how do you feel? Are you kinda nervous or are you just used to hosting big concerts these days?

Hiroaki: Well, I’m more firm about being at tonight’s rehearsal *laughs* I’m not too fuss about the performance itself, I don’t think it would be a problem.

Oracle: So what are you most looking forward to playing?

Hiroaki: Actually, all of them are pretty cool to play, but in the past some of them have got repetitive and so I wanna try something new for the programme and this weekend has got so much put into it. Actually, we’ve being criticised for playing Final Fantasy music a little too much, and I agree, I think its time we do something new.

Oracle: As you mentioned before about composers in Japan who are being stalked, I think it’s a good time to bring up if you have a fan club?

Hiroaki: I’ve got a few people who draw my pictures and stuff like that *laughs* I’m not sure that my fans ummm.. I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to get stalked.

Oracle: So do chicks dig violinists?

Hiroaki: Actually, chicks dig a lot of musicians. I’ve seen a little comic strip thing as I enter the auditorium and there’s a little boy sitting on his fathers lap and the father goes ‘One day, you’ll make a women very happy for awhile but then she’ll dump you for another man and he will make her happy for eternity, and these men are called Musicians’

Oracle: Aww! Mate, you’re making me feel like I’m useless.

Hiroaki: A lot of us can’t do normal stuff because we missed out on so much because we lock ourselves in a room and all we do is practice. So you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them have no social skills. *laughs*

Oracle: Alright, we’ll move onto some gaming questions to bring out your inner geek, what is you’re favourite video game, ever?

Hiroaki: I actually like World of Warcraft

Oracle: So you’re an addict?

Hiroaki: Yeah, well the thing is I really like my guild and being able to play together, but what’s most valuable to me is the time, because timing is everything to me. I don’t have enough time to actually work on my skills or tactics or stuff like that but you know, I would like to build up a character and stick to it. I’ve only got one main character and I don’t have any alts, so yeah, WoW is what I’m into right now.

Oracle: So if you’re into World of Warcraft I’m guessing that you love the music too? Because one of my most beloved memories of World of Warcraft (which I haven’t touched in a few years, thank God) is walking into Storm Wind for the first time and hearing the trumpets blow and hearing the gods sing.

Hiroaki: I think the music is fantastic, but I think it’s a pity that most people listen to metal rock and other stuff while they’re playing World of Warcraft. I think WoW was pretty good in the beginning but now that the expansion pack is out it just got a whole lot better because the music again is fantastic, it’s not in your face but its there. It brings everything to life and makes it more enjoyable to play.

Oracle: I noticed Playstation 3 is sponsoring A Night in Fantasia 2007 so you’ve gotta be completely honest with me when I ask you which console do you think is better, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii?

Hiroaki: Ohhh, that is a hard one… I got my Playstation 3 for free last year and there’s not much games out at the moment, although it did have my attention for a while, but it lacked. But I don’t think there are enough titles out at the moment for me to say Playstation 3 is my favourite console but since I don’t own a Wii and a 360, but I do play a 360 at my friends house.. so I’m leaning towards the 360 at the moment.

I just spoke to my friend from Game Creator who’s a representor, I can’t say his name because I’ll get busted but he was saying that the Playstation 3 is too difficult and expensive to make a game for it. Also the Japanese are leaning more towards the 360 which kinda sucks because it’s not selling well there too. There are plenty of games for Wii, lots for Wii, but you know, Wii kinda makes me sad sometimes because of its low end technology. I mean, I think the Wii is a great party console and so is 360 because I spend hours playing Rainbow Six and Gears of War because you know, its my age of thing to do *laughs*

Oracle: So who do you think will win this fight, Sonic, Mario or John Howard?

Hiroaki: Probably John Howard *laughs*

Oracle: And finally, we’ve got Guitar Hero, but what would you think if they brought out Violin Hero?

Hiroaki: Violin Hero…? That’s… I.. I don’t know. I think if they introduce that people would rather play real violins *evil laughs*

Oracle: Well Hiro, I would like to thank you for your time and it’s been fantastic catching up with you.

Hiroaki: Yeah, absolutely.

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