Musta missed this when it was announced apparently in December...or if it was mentioned here on the forums. Includes a guest reception with Uematsu in attendance.

http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony … ateid=7381

I'm torn. I'd love to go to an Uematsu guest reception, but flying up twice within such a short period of time...

And whoever wished for a California one, looks like one's coming in July also:

http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/index.ph … &Itemid=62

They have quite a lot of performances scheduled in various venues...didn't realize there were so many planned already.

Yeah, there's a great deal of new dates that have been added for 2009. You can check them out here. Very cool in my opinion. Distant Worlds had a relatively quiet 2008, but now look set to become a major concert tour.

I'll be attending the Distant Worlds concert in Minneapolis, MN tomorrow evening.  Looking forward to it!

I live in Seattle and am looking forward to Distant Worlds. Already have my ticket!

Thanks for bringing this up. These sorts of concerts never seem to be where I am, but I'll actually be in Washington in July. I'm not the biggest fan of Final Fantasy music, but I'm sure it'd be awesome performed by a symphony. I'll have to seriously consider this.

Last night's concert was fantastic!  "Maria & Draco" was by far the highlight of my evening, and it's cool that they're switching the set list up a bit.  One thing Roth and Uematsu did near the end of the concert was poll the audience regarding which *new* arrangement they would like to see at concerts later this year.  The choices were the following:

1. Battle on the Big Bridge - FFV
2. Dancing Mad - FFVI
3. J-E-N-O-V-A - FFVII
4. Force Your Way - FFVIII
5. Fight with Seymour - FFX

Somehow, J-E-N-O-V-A received the loudest cheers from the audience, besting the only *correct* choice of Dancing Mad (which received the second-loudest fan reaction), and my faith in humanity (and Final Fantasy fans) died a little more.

Fascinating. Seems like they're planning to make an original arrangement for Distant Worlds, which is fantastic news. It'll be interesting to see if Shiro Hamaguchi returns or if someone else like Jonne Valtonen handles it. An orchestral J-E-N-O-V-A arrangement would be very interesting.

I can't imagine a purely orchestral J-E-N-O-V-A.  The synth defines that track.

If they could let the orchestra handle the orchestral parts from the OST version and integrate live synth in the right way it would be epic, but after hearing the More Friends version of Opening ~ Bombing Mission I have my doubts.

It'd be a challenge, but I think it could be done. A large portion of the original track was orchestral anyway and I think the electronic elements could be convincingly interpreted. If it worked for "The Man with the Machine Gun", I think it could work here. Agreed "Dancing Mad" would be even more awesome, though.

Dancing Mad has already been part of the Play! concerts, and I think it's been performed in some Games Convention concert, too. Have those other songs been performed in some major concert?

First time it has been performed by an orchestra and choir was in 2006 at the Games Convention concert, with Nobuo Uematsu in attendance.
The PLAY! version is based on that arrangement, however, it was slightly extended.

Thanks for this amazing info, Kirin Lemon!

As far as I know, never. IMO, orchestral "Clash on the Big Bridge" would be completely fantastic.

Oh, it is.

Oh man...that opera is the sole reason I'd go to the concert. But I just came back from Sakura Con in Seattle and I'm not sure if my wallet can handle me taking another trip this year. At least it'll be warmer during that time if I do decide to go, heh.