Final Fantasy fans would be more than cognisant of the annual Final Fantasy orchestral concert held in various parts of the world, including Singapore. Featuring iconic music pieces from the fan-favourite Square Enix series, it has increasingly raked up a sizeable audience base over the years, with the 2016 iteration drawing a full house on local shores.
In 2017, that gave rise to Distant Worlds: Singapore, held in celebration of the franchise’s 30th-year anniversary, which saw famous Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu making a guest appearance. A staple across all his orchestral concerts, it certainly makes for a pleasant experience for those in attendance, and now the ante has been upped with the celebrated individual’s stage performance in the pipeline.
Titled Nobuo Uematsu / Earthbound Papas, this would mark the first time that the Beethoven of video games music is taking to the performing stage in Singapore. Lining up the programme with a rich selection of his compositions from Final Fantasy, he is set to be joined by singer Akiko Kawano for a touch of vocal goodness, who will be doing renditions of Final Fantasy VIII‘s Eyes on Me, Melodies of Life from Final Fantasy IX, and her self-composed Terra Battle Main Theme, which serves as the primary tune to the free-to-play mobile game Terra Battle.
Apart from Uemastu’s solo acts during selected parts of the concert, other familiar industry names are bound to grace the event as well, with fellow video game composers Tsutomu Narita (Granblue Fantasy), Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts), Michio Okamiya (Anata wo Yurusanai, Lord of Vermillion), and Chihiro Fujioka (Burai, Mario and Luigi, Super Mario RPG) adding to the entire experience as the main man takes the leading helm.
The most exciting of it all, however, comes in the form of an opportunity to not only meet the legendary composer in the flesh, but also be granted access to a photo and signing session. It’s a dream easily realised, too – at the price of S$140, the whole package certainly is a steal, especially for someone of a reverent status as Uematsu.
Fans in Singapore may catch the best of Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy compositions below, after which London and Berlin will also be welcoming his first-ever stage performance with open arms:
- Date: 1 September 2018, Monday
- Time: 8pm
- Venue: University Cultural Hall, NUS
- Pricing: S$140 (inclusive of meet-and-greet session), S$$79
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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