Eminence Symphony Orchestra

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Eminence Group

Background information
Origin	Australia
Genre(s)	Classical music Film score Video game music
Years active	2003 - present
Members
Hiroaki Yura (Founder concertmaster; Violin) Maestro Philip Chu (Conductor) Kumiko Ito (Piano) Minah Choe Viola) James Fortune (Flute) Joshua Hill (Percussion) Zane Banks (Guitar)
Former members
Ayako Ishikawa (Violin)

The Eminence Symphony Orchestra based in Sydney, Australia is a symphony orchestra which delves into the classical music featured in video games and anime, as well as film scores.

1 History
2 Description
3 Concerts
4 Other performances
5 Recordings
6 Albums
7 External links

[edit] History

Eminence was founded in 2003 by a small group of friends, one of which was Hiroaki Yura. The difference in the cultural backgrounds between these friends as well as their differing experiences and qualifications contributed to what would be their first concert.

[edit] Description

Eminence focuses particularly on the music of notable Japanese video games and anime. The orchestra's vision is to "inject something bold, dynamic and fresh into classical music". Eminence wishes to "break down the barriers between the audience and the musicians, and to revive orchestra in today's society; particularly amongst youth". While the trademark of Eminence is its symphony orchestra, the group also delves into smaller-based concerts featuring three to five musicians, branded differently under Eminence Artists.

[edit] Concerts

[edit] A Night in Fantasia

Eminence's debut concert was held on the 31st of October and the 1st of November of 2003: A Night in Fantasia.It was born out of the ideas, that such an event had never been done before in Australia. The first of a series of concerts was mainly comprised of music from Final Fantasy and Studio Ghibli films, and took place at Sydney Congress Hall with tickets sold well before the night. The overall success as well as the enthusiastic support of the first concert proved a point to the organisers, that such a concept of cultural music would appeal to a wide-range of people. At this point the company running the concert was 'Infinity 8LUE', and the orchestra was the 'Infinity 8LUE Symphony Orchestra'.

[edit] Sakura Snow

On the 10th of July, 2004, Infinity 8LUE presented two sessions of a J-pop concert at Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Entitled Sakura Snow, the concert featured FUYUKA and Jun Mochizuki, who performed music from various artists, including those of Utada Hikaru, MISIA, Dreams Come True, Glay, Yuichiro (TOKIO), Chage & Aska and The Boom.

[edit] A Night in Fantasia 2004

In 2004, the orchestra was fully formed, and held A Night in Fantasia 2004 at Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on the 30th & 31st of October. William Motzing became the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Daniel Smith became the Assistant Conductor and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu was a guest of honour at all four performances. This concert marked the name change for the orchestra, as they became known as the Eminence Symphony Orchestra. Infinity 8LUE was the company behind the concert, and shortly after finalised the name change by becoming Eminence.

[edit] Piano Stories

Alexey Yemtsov performed the first Piano Stories concert on the 15th of April, at Verbrugghen Hall. Featuring work from Studio Ghibli, Yoko Kanno and Shiro Sagisu, Piano Stories marked the beginning of a series of concerts celebrating piano scores from a selection of anime and gaming soundtracks.

[edit] World of John Williams

2005 saw Eminence present the World of John Williams concert, held on the 8th of July at Sydney Town Hall. Phillip Chu and Daniel Smith conducted the Eminence Symphony Orchestra and the Eminence Choir through performance featuring music from one of Hollywood's most recognised composers, John Williams. His work from Harry Potter, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Home Alone and Raiders of the Lost Ark was performed. Daniel Smith conducted the Australian Premiere of Battle of the Heroes (from Star Wars Episode III).

[edit] Piano Stories II

In the same year Piano Stories II was held at Verbrugghen Hall with Stuart Wright performing pieces from various popular culture video games and anime including Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, Voices of a Distant Star, Macross Plus and Noir. The Eminence Quartet also appeared on the night. The concert was held on the 6th of August at Verbrugghen Hall.

[edit] Destiny: The Dream Time Ensemble

Later on in 2005 Eminence presented Destiny: The Dream Time Ensemble. Held at Verbrugghen Hall and the National Theatre, This marked the debut of a performance outside of Sydney, as the city of Melbourne in Australia witnessed the 9 member elite chamber music ensemble group perform music from a variety of composers. These included Joe Hisaishi, Nobuo Uematsu, Michiru Oshima, Shiro Sagisu and Toshihiko Sahashi. The concert also marked the first time Eminence utilised footage from the original films, games and television serials in alongside the music. The members of Destiny were: Hiroaki Yura (Violin), Ayako Ishikawa (Violin), Christian Boennelykke(Viola), Kenichi Mizushima (Violoncello), Hanae Seto (Clarinet), James Fortune (Flute), Joshua Hill (Percussion), Chiron Meller (Percussion) and Jem Harding (Piano).

[edit] A Night in Fantasia 2005

A Night in Fantasia 2005 saw a large change in venue, this time to be held at the Sydney Town Hall. Philip Chu became Chief Conductor and the night's music programme also saw fresh changes (due to the work of AV Director, Jacky Fan who acted as musical advisor and co-produced the concert) with the inclusion of many popular anime and video game titles including Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Onimusha, Halo, Fruits Basket, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Tsubasa Chronicle, Gran Turismo, InuYasha, Naruto, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War and Rurouni Kenshin. The event wrote history by hosting the World Premiere of the World of Warcraft Suite, and again saw the use of footage from the original titles alongside the music. The concert featured the Eminence Choir which assisted the wider music selection greatly.

[edit] Piano Stories III

In 2006 Eminence brought the next chapter in the concert series Piano Stories. Featuring acclaimed pianist Alexey Yemtsov who had performed previously in the first Piano Stories, the night highlighted Studio Ghibli and Final Fantasy pieces. Special guest violinists Hiroaki Yura and Ayako Ishikawa were present, and was held on the 15th of April in Melbourne's National Theatre and on the 22nd of April in Sydney's Verbrugghen Hall.

[edit] Spirited Away with Youmi

This concert was designed to run alongside A Night in Fantasia 2006. Spirited Away with Youmi was held on the same day as Melbourne's concert and also took place on the 6th of July in Sydney. Youmi Kimura performed songs from Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and My Neighbour Totoro among others.

[edit] A Night in Fantasia 2006

A Night in Fantasia 2006 was held on the 2nd of July in Melbourne Town Hall and on the 7th of July in Sydney Town Hall. The concert featured music from Final Fantasy and Studio Ghibli, and also welcomed special guest Youmi Kimura, the composer of both the Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle's ending themes. It also featured Hiroaki Yura on violin and Phillip Chu as conductor. The concert also premiered music from the newest addition to the Final Fantasy Series,Final Fantasy XII and was the world's first symphonic concert to be accompanied by footage from Studio Ghibli films.

[edit] Piano Stories IV

Eminence's newest addition to the Piano Stories series featured pianist Krzysztof Malek performing pieces from a number of video game titles including Tetris, the Final Fantasy series, Xenogears, The Legend of Zelda and Kingdom Hearts II as well as a number of anime titles including Noir, My Neighbour Totoro, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Azumanga Daioh, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Fullmetal Alchemist and Gundam SEED Destiny. Eminence also announced a mystery guest artist that would appear alongside Krzyzstof Malek, which would later be revealed to be Ayako Ishikawa on the violin. The Melbourne performance was part of the Manifest convention, and was held in Melba Hall within The University of Melbourne on Saturday the 23rd of September. Sydney's concert took place in Verbrugghen Hall within the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Saturday October the 14th.

[edit] Passion

Eminence announced a new concert series that began in December featuring Ayako Ishikawa and Hiroaki Yura on violin and also featured Natalia Raspopova on piano, Joshua Hill on percussion and Zane Banks on the guitar. On their minisite for the concert, Eminence announced that they collaborated with Japanese video game composers Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose work was featured alongside other notable anime and video game titles. The concert was held in Melbourne on the 9th of December at the Merlyn Theatre, followed by Sydney on the 16th of December at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, finally ending with Eminence's debut Singapore concert on the 23rd of December and was held at the Victoria Concert Hall. Yasunori Mitsuda was a special guest of honour for all three performances, and also played the bouzouki. Hitoshi Sakimoto also joined him as a guest, though only at the Sydney performance. The concert featured music from games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, Xenosaga, Shadow of the Colossus and Super Mario Bros. The anime pieces came from a number of sources including Haibane Renmei, Tsubasa Chronicle and .hack//Liminality.

[edit] A Night in Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition

First announced at their Passion concert, Eminence chose to split their annual concert series into two performances, the first of which solely focused on video games. The concerts took place at Sydney Town Hall on Friday the 20th of April and Saturday the 21st of April, and the concert in Melbourne was performed in Hamer Hall on Friday the 27th of April.

Special guest composers included Hitoshi Sakimoto, Junichi Nakatsuru and Masaru Shiina, present at all of the concerts. Yoko Shimomura was also slated to appear at all concerts, but was prevented from attending the Melbourne concert for unknown reasons. In addition, Yasunori Mitsuda, Kow Otani and Shiro Hamaguchi joined the aforementioned composers as guests in both Sydney performances.

The concert featured music from Super Mario Bros, Kingdom Hearts II, the Metal Gear Solid series, the Final Fantasy series, World of Warcraft, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Shadow of the Colossus, Tales of Legendia, Xenosaga Episode 1, Soul Calibur 3, Odin Sphere, Legend of Mana and Deltora Quest, with "Time's Scar" from Chrono Cross featured as encores in both Sydney and Melbourne. However, "One Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII was played as an encore to the Sydney performances, while the Melbourne performance received a repeat of the Metal Gear Solid theme. The concert also included the Eminence Choir, who last performed in A Night in Fantasia 2005. In addition to video game music, a piece from Romeo x Juliet and one from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was performed.

[edit] Ayako Ishikawa – Violin Recital

Announced in May, this concert was the first solo performance by violinist, Ayako Ishikawa, with the date of the performance set to 1st of July. The concert featured a mix of classical and modern music, with musical pieces from Studio Ghibli and Disney being played, as well as the music from composer John Williams. Classical music, such as the works of Mendelssohn were also performed. Working with her was pianist Clemens Leske, who would be playing alongside her in many of the pieces.

[edit] Destiny - Reunion

Accompanying the announcement of Ayako's Violin Recital, was Destiny - Reunion, a continuation of Destiny in 2005, which will be performed on the 28th of July. Including a brand new line up of music from some of the world's most famous video games and anime. Featuring Eminence founder, Hiroaki Yura among the musicians playing, the concert will supposedly include arrangements that have never been heard before, and will be exclusive to Destiny - Reunion only.

It was soon revealed that a world tour would form the compliment of Destiny: Reunion. Eminence's concert to Japan was soon sold out in under 10 hours when tickets were for sale, highlighting the excitement of anime and video game enthusiasts in Japan. On the 16th of July, Eminence Orchestra performed their first concert in Japan in which they were met with huge success with Yasunori Mitsuda being a special guest to the concert where he played the piece "Time's Scar" from Chrono Cross.

Following this trip at Japan, the Eminence quintet were the special performers in the Otakon 2007 Convention, where they performed to a massive crowd. Hitoshi Sakimoto, a long time admirer of Eminence was also present at both concerts in Japan and America.

[edit] A Night in Fantasia 2007: Anime Edition

The second part of the concert series focused entirely on anime, and the programme given out at Passion indicated a 'late 2007' concert date for both Sydney and Melbourne. At the 2007 Symphonic Games Edition concert, questionnaires were handed out which included a question to list anime music attendees would like to hear in the upcoming concert. In October, the entertainment website, IGN announced the date for the Symphonic Anime Edition, in which two consecutive concerts would be held on the night of the 18th of November. The first concert would be held at 3:30pm and the second concert being at 6:30pm; in the Sir John Clancy Auditorium of the University of New South Wales. Both concerts would feature music from famous anime including: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tsubasa Chronicle, Noir, Le Portrait de Petit Cossette, Xenosaga II, Porco Rosso, .hack//Liminality and Elfen Lied. Yuki Kajiura, composer and music producer was the special guest during the concert and during the concert; participated in a question and answer session with the host.

[edit] Other performances

[edit] Australian PlayStation 3 Media Launch

On the 22nd of February 2007, Sony held the Australian media launch for PlayStation 3 in Sydney. Announcing Sony's sponsorship of Eminence for A Night In Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition, the orchestra performed a piece from Final Fantasy XII and a piece from Shadow of the Colossus as part of the presentation.

[edit] Hillsong Conference

In July 2007 the Eminence Symphony Orchestra performed at the opening ceremony for the Hillsong Conference, an annual Christian conference held mid-yearly in Sydney, Australia.

[edit] Supernova, Sydney

In October 2007, a trio of Eminence musicians which comprised of Hiroaki Yura, Minah Choe and Kumiko Ito were featured as special guests where they played several pieces including the Pirates of the Carribean, Laputa - Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso.

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[edit] Recordings

As well as performing to the audience, recently the Eminence Group has been dedicating its time for the recording of various pieces for anime and games alike.

[edit] Romeo x Juliet

In December 2006, Eminence recorded the solo instrumental music for the GONZO anime series Romeo x Juliet, which was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. The soundtrack was recorded at the Trackdown Scoring Stage at Fox Studios in Sydney. In January 2007, Eminence then recorded the full orchestral, string ensemble, chamber ensemble and more solo instrumentals for the anime series.

[edit] GrimGrimoire

Also in December 2006, solo instrumentals were recorded for the Vanillaware and Nippon Ichi PS2 game GrimGrimoire (グリムグリモア), which was to be composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto.

[edit] Deltora Quest (DS)

Eminence was once again working with Hitoshi Sakimoto in February 2007 for the recording of the DS game, Deltora Quest, and adaptation to the anime based on Emily Rodda's children fantasy books Deltora Series.

[edit] Opoona

In April 2007, Eminence took part in another recording with Hitoshi Sakimoto for ArtePiazza and KOEI's Wii role-playing game Opoona.

[edit] Senjo no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles

In August 2007, Eminence's participated in the recording of Sega's Senjo no Valkyria aka Valkyrie of the Battlefield for the Playstation 3.

[edit] Odin Sphere

Also in August 2007, Eminence worked together with Hitoshi Sakimoto's company, Basiscape, to record Odin Sphere's Original Soundtrack.

[edit] The Tower of Druaga: the Aegis of Uruk

Based on the Namco Bandai's classic game The Tower of Druaga, The Aegis of Uruk, a GONZO anime TV series with its music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, had its music recorded with Eminence in February 2008.

[edit] SoulCalibur IV

In April 2008, Eminence recorded the orchestral music for the fourth Namco Bandai video game installment of the SoulCalbur series, SoulCalibur IV which was composed by Junichi Nakatsuru.