What's new

World Famous Classical Music Concerts to Feature Video Game Songs for First Time

The BBC Proms, an annual series of classical music concerts, will include video game music for the first time.


Music from Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus, Battlefield 2042, and Dear Esther will feature in the concert, revealed by the BBC and spotted by Eurogamer.

The gaming Prom, From 8-Bit to Infinity, takes place on August 1 in London's Royal Albert Hall - which will be decorated to represent the history of gaming - and is being performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Robert Ames - who's previously conducted a sci-fi themed Prom with music from Interstellar, Alien: Covenant, and more - will conduct the event, with the longest performance of 14 mins coming from Battlefield 2042's "suite" composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater.


This will be followed by excerpts from Shadow of the Colossus's music (composed by Kow Otani) at eight minutes, excerpts from Kingdom Hearts (composed by Yoko Shimomura) at four minutes, and the song "I Have Begun My Ascent" from Dear Esther (composed by Jessica Curry), also at four minutes.


The event's description reads: "Fantastic worlds, epic adventures, complex characters and huge moral choices – the universe of computer gaming is a natural match for orchestral music, and in the 21st century games have created a huge and passionate global audience for some of the most vivid, ambitious and inventive music currently being written for symphony orchestra.

"In this first ever Gaming Prom, Robert Ames – best-known at the Proms for his explorations of sci-fi and electroacoustic music – takes an electronically expanded Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on an odyssey from the classic console titles of the 1980s, through Jessica Curry’s haunted soundscapes to the European concert premiere of music from Hildur Guðnadóttir’s and Sam Slater’s score for Battlefield 2042."


DICE's latest didn't make it to IGN's Best Video Game Music of 2021 nominations, with spots instead taken up by Sable, Psychonauts 2, Deathloop, The Artful Escape, and eventual winner Guardians of the Galaxy.

Kingdom Hearts has previously enjoyed recognition though, with last year's Tokyo Olympics using music from the series alongside that of Nier and Final Fantasy.


Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Continue reading...
 
Top