Concerts - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy is a popular series of RPG games produced by Square Enix. The music from the franchise series has been and continues to be performed in various concert tours and live events all around the world, such as the Orchestral Game Music Concerts, Symphonic Game Music Concerts, as well as Play! A Video Game Symphony. For the first nine Final Fantasy games, veteran Square composer Nobuo Uematsu scored the music until he pursued a freelance career. The most recent, The Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY tour, produced by WR Music Productions, LLC is currently presenting official Final Fantasy symphony concert music and will hold concerts throughout 2020 all around the world.
20020220 - Music from Final Fantasy
20020220 - Music from Final Fantasy was the first official concert devoted to Final Fantasy music. It was an arranged orchestra that presented original compositions of Nobuo Uematsu and Shiro Hamaguchi and was presented by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Tokyo International Forum. The concert was conducted by Taizou Takemoto and hosted by Masakazu Morita and Mayuko Aoki, the Japanese voice actors for Tidus and Yuna the main characters from the Final Fantasy X game.
17 songs were played over the course of two hours, ranging from some of the first Final Fantasy compositions all the way through Final Fantasy X. Japanese folk singer Ritsuki Nakano, known as "RIKKI '' accompanied the track for "Suteki da Ne", who sang the track in the game. "Melodies of Life'' from Final Fantasy IX was performed by Emiko Shiratori, who sang the piece in the original game. A CD version of the concert was released in 2002 by DigiCube and later rereleased by Square Enix.
Tour de Japon - Music from Final Fantasy
Tour de Japon was another concert that was held across Japan in 2004, continuing the successful composition from 20020220 - Music from Final Fantasy. Seven concerts were held in six different cities across Japan and featured titles composed by Nobuo Uematsu, arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi, and conducted by Taizou Takemoto. For each different city a different orchestra was used.
Featured Orchestras:
- New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra
- Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra
- Sapporo Symphony Orchestra
- Nagoya Philharmonic
- Kyushu Symphony
- Osaka Symphoniker Orchestra
Dear Friends - Music from Final Fantasy
Dear Friends - Music from Final Fantasy was a concert tour that travelled the United States from 2004 to 2005 and was the first such tour to take place in North America. It was widely successful with sold out tickets. It featured titles composed by Nobuo Uematsu from the later releases of the series. The concert was performed by an American Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. The music was accompanied by visual movies presented on a big screen and hosted by James Arnold Taylor, the English voice actor of Tidus from Final Fantasy X.
More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy
More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy was an orchestra concert made to roughly coincide with the one year anniversary of the Dear Friends tour and was also presented in Los Angeles.
Voices - Music from Final Fantasy
A concert called Voices - Music from Final Fantasy was held in Yokohama, Japan in 2006 and featured vocal presentations of Final Fantasy music. It was held at the Prima Vista Philharmonic Orchestra in the Pacifico Yokohama Conference and Convention Center. The concert consisted of an a capella medley, and a symphonic metal finale.
The Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY tour
The Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY tour was a 2007 tour beginning in Stockholm and featured Final Fantasy music. A tour that is still continuing to date. Distant Worlds II: More Music From Final Fantasy was performed on June 12, 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden. Arnie Roth conducted Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Returning Home, a concert featuring music by Nobuo Uematsu and Masashi Hamauzu from the Final Fantasy series.
A concert series called A New World began in 2014, which featured smaller compositions from the Distant Worlds tour. Many other concerts and shows have been presented, and in 2017 a series of concerts of music from Final Fantasy XIV titled Eorzean Symphony made its debut.
Upcoming Concerts
The Distant Worlds tour, featuring classic Final Fantasy songs and performed by symphony orchestra, choir, and renowned vocal and instrumental soloists is touring today. The symphony includes HD video of Final Fantasy related content on a giant screen during the show. According to their website “Distant Worlds is a unique multimedia concert experience that delights audiences all over the globe.” Upcoming shows in 2020 are planned to be held in Montreal and Orlando. The “Immediate download of a 13-track album in your choice of standard 320k mp3 and AAC, or HD 24bit/88.2k FLAC, ALAC, or any other format you desire. Full album purchase includes a 12-page PDF booklet with liner notes, session photos, lyrics, and more.” is available to fans as well.