Happy days in Sweden: A new Final Fantasy concert series will premiere in Stockholm December 4th. Nobuo Uematsu will be in attendance. The concert is produced by AWR Music Productions and will include the following pieces:

Final Fantasy series: Main Theme, Swing de Chocobo
Final Fantasy I-III: Medley
Final Fantasy III DS: Opening
Final Fantasy IV: Theme of Love
Final Fantasy V: Dear Friends
Final Fantasy VI: Maria and Draco (Opera)
Final Fantasy VII: One-Winged Angel, Opening - Bombing Mission, Aerith's Theme
Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali, Fisherman's Horizon, Love Grows, Don't be Afraid
Final Fantasy IX: Vamo' Alla Flamenco
Final Fantasy X: To Zanarkand
Final Fantasy XI: Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds

A second date has been announced: Chicago March 1th 2008. On the same day as the concert in Stockholm in December, a new album with select pieces from the concert will be released. The music is performed by Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The album will be possible to purchase through the official web site.

Read more here: http://www.ffdistantworlds.com

When they decide to perform something from FFVI other than the #%$%@$#@ opera then I will actually care.  Say perhaps the ending theme, which despite being the musical pinnacle of the series has yet to receive one single orchestral performance.

No offense intended to the poster of course   Done ranting now.

It's great that they're doing more and more concerts nowadays, especially in Europe, but I have to agree with Adam here, it's high time they did something new for a change.

How Bout Teena Theem?!

Same opinion here. Previously orchestrated material aaaaallllll ooooover. Borrrr-rinnnng!

...and pretty much almost certainly cheaper.

-Joshua

I'd be interested in how they do the I~III medley, and I'd also be interested if the Distant Worlds performance has the original opera singer (seen on the "Voices" DVD).

I'd want to go then.

Ramza

PS - ditto to what everyone else said. Gettin' tired of the opera, gimme an absurd orchestra + black mages performance of Dancing Mad.

The opera will be sung by three Swedish opera singers and it will be the English version performed on the More Friends concert.

We got an absurd orchestra + Machinae Supremacy performance of Dancing Mad on the Play concert in Stockholm in June

Yeah, I love the game music concerts in Europe, but do they all have to be the same?  There's just not a single new song and, thus, no reason for me to fly over to Sweden for the weekend, budget airlines or no.  Especially on a Tuesday.  Who has a concert on a Tuesday?

I think there are still some people who did not have the experience of a LIVE concert with Final Fantasy music yet: people outside of Japan and the US. I am sure they are much looking forward to the "standard, old, boring" stuff.

Looking at the list I am wondering if Fisherman's Horizon and Distant Worlds were ever performed outside of Japan at all? The FFIII DS Opening looks new to me, too?

I think the CD album will be interesting as well. Not because of the "standard, old, boring" tracks, but I always hoped for a good (!) recording of the FFI-III medley.

yah another live Liberi Fatali,, not... i think id rather hear a Librarian Farting the FF8 intro theme...

...hopefully, Uematsu never thinks of THAT.

Interview with Arnie Roth talking about this Distant Worlds concert series. 

Asked him if he had any plans to include music by Mizuta, Sakimoto, to Hamauzu in the program, as well as his thoughts on the rowdy crowds that attend these events.  Also, he says they're interested in pursuing a DVD for Distant Worlds, which makes sense given there was a DVD for Voices, the other Square-Enix concert he was involved with.

http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=190

Wish they had debuted in the oversaturated Los Angeles market so I'd be able to attend, but oh well.  I was a huge fan of Dear Friends, so I'm really excited about Distant Worlds.

Spelmusik.net Arnie Roth interview: http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/arn … 2_eng.html

I talked to Arnie Roth in conjunction with Play! A Video Game Symphony in Norway in October. We talked about Distant Worlds, upcoming Play! Symphony plans and so on. For the Finnish vgm fans here: there is a possibility for a Play! concert in Helsinki next year!

I have also updated the site with a interview section for all you English speaking people:
http://www.spelmusik.net/index_en.html

Back from Stockholm and the concert. It was fantastic to hear Maria and Draco live! And after some minutes of standing ovations, Terra's Theme together with the opening sequence from Final Fantasy VI launched. The credit list was edited so that the guys behind this concert, Thomas Böcker, Arnie Roth, Nobuo Uematsu and Square Enix, were credited. A really nice touch. Then everything ended with One-Winged Angel.

Some other favorites of mine were FFI-III Medley, Memoro de la Stono ~ Distant Worlds, Opening ~ Bombing Mission, Love Grows and Don't be Afraid. And yes, almost everything else. I know many of you guys already have got the chance to attend a Final Fantasy concert, but for us in Europe this was something new and wonderful. Also, the CD is going to be interesting to listen to. I recommend you to check that out because I guess it will be available to order via the official website soon. The Opening Theme for FFIII DS was as expected very nice, too. I have always loved that theme.

Nobuo Uematsu's presence was of course the icing on the cake (no, this cake is NOT a lie). The second time I met him and hopefully not the last one.

Right in front of me, I noticed a girl shedding a tear after the performance of To Zanarkand. Nice moment.

The Distant Worlds CD is now available at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YFCQSK

Setlist with some YouTube links:

Liberi Fatali
At Zanarkand
Don't Be Afraid
Aerith's Theme
Medley 2002
Dear Friends
Vamo' alla Flamenco
Final Fantasy

Intermission

Opening~Bombing Mission
Fisherman's Horizon
Memoro de la Stono~Distant Worlds
Theme of Love
Swing de Chocobo
FFIII DS Opening
Love Grows
Opera "Maria & Draco" 1/2 & 2/2

Encore

Tina
One-Winged Angel

Awesome concert.

So, if I have every other FF arranged/concert CD, I really have no reason to buy this CD, correct? (no new pieces)

~Andy

I'm really pleased with this tour and CD. Great for mainstream fans. For us veterans, I agree it offers a frustrating purchase, but that didn't stop people buying the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra performances of the Dragon Quest Symphonic Suites (not that the repetition is anything to that extent). It partly depends if performance quality matters to you. It heals the problems of the 20020220 and More Friends CDs in that regard (the latter was mostly a great performnace) with polished recordings. There are also pieces that haven't been played live before and new adaptations such as "Distant Worlds".

Here's an article that got lost in the holiday rush (http://music.ign.com/articles/843/843806p1.html).  I remember Akiman and Kim K. talking about meeting Uematsu after the Play! concert in Stockholm last year with some of the folks from Spelmusik and ZNS, so it was cool that it made as big an impression on Uematsu.

Has anyone else heard the Distant Worlds CD yet?  Admittedly there's very little new there, but I'm looking forward to hearing clean studio-recorded versions of some of my favorites with none of the coughing or applause to ruin things.

It was a great article, Alex! And I also think it is nice that Uematsu so well remembers Akiman, Kim K and the others from Finland!

I have listened to the CD a couple of times and the sound is indeed very clear and it is overall a very nice album to have in your collection. It's great to have fantastic pieces like "Maria and Draco", "FFI-III Medley 2002" and "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" in studio recordings (concert hall in this case, but anyway).

Alex, I also read your article about Games in Concert. Great that such concerts are getting some recognition, too.

And for those of you who have missed it, here's my interview with Nobuo Uematsu:
http://spelmusik.net/intervjuer/nobuo_uematsu2_eng.html