BALTIMORE — The music of some of the world's most popular video games is being reimagined in a new symphony, and it's launching its world tour right here in Baltimore.
The BSO and Handel Choir will be the first stop for the tour of a show called "Heroes: A Video Game Symphony."
It's happening at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11, with the musicians performing a blend of songs from games like "Guild Wars," "Oblivion," "Mass Effect," and "Halo."
The theme of "Heroes" is based on the archetype of the hero's journey, where a hero goes on an adventure and returns transformed.
Executive producer and creator Jason Michael Paul explained:
It's just an amazing reaction. You have all these worlds colliding for just an amazing blend of people and backgrounds, so that's the beauty of this concert. You have younger children, you have people my age, [in their forties], that have played video games their whole life, to the newer generation of symphony-goers who are going to a concert for the first time and lo and behold, it's video game music, who would have thought?
The symphony will be accompanied by a giant, 30,000-lumen projector
Jason Michael Paul has worked as a production manager for Luciano Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, created video-game concerts called "Final Fantasy" and "Play!", and created concerts for "Legend of Zelda."
He noted about the "Heroes" symphony: "Basically, everything in our program is top 50 video games of all time, many of which are 20 of all time. So the music is very rich, the visuals are amazing, but what's amazing about this is how we have the nostalgia of games like 'Castlevania' to newer titles like 'Blades'... a lot of newbies, but also a lot of older titles that people have known and grown to love over the years."
Tickets can be bought on the "Heroes" website or the BSO website.
