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The ''Symphonic Game Music Concerts'' () are a series of award-winning, annual German video game music concerts initiated in 2003, notable for being the longest running and the first of their kind outside of Japan. They are produced by Thomas Böcker and performed by various orchestras conducted by Andy Brick (2003–2007), Arnie Roth (2008, 2009 and 2011), Niklas Willén (2010, 2012) and Eckehard Stier (from 2012).〔 From 2003 to 2007, ''GC in Concert'' took place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig and was held as the official opening ceremony of the GC – Games Convention, a trade fair for video games in Leipzig. In 2008, the cancellation of the concert by the Leipzig Trade Fair resulted in a cooperation with the WDR, eventually spawning new video game music performances by its in-house ensembles, principally presented at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. ==Development== Since 1999, Thomas Böcker has been working in the games industry as producer, director and advisor for a variety of soundtracks. His role as executive producer and project director of the ''Merregnon'' trilogy provided him with many contacts to conductors, orchestras and composers from around the world.〔 Inspired by game concerts from Japan, the ''Orchestral Game Music Concerts'' from the 1990s in particular, he developed a concept for the first event of this kind outside of Japan. To attract as many people from the target audience as possible, the concert was to be scheduled alongside an established event connected to the game industry.〔 In 2002, he proposed his idea to the Leipzig Trade Fair which agreed to hold the ''Symphonic Game Music Concert'' during the GC – Games Convention, the first trade fair for video games in Europe.〔 The Leipzig Trade Fair funded ''GC in Concert'' while Böcker himself was responsible for planning the event, inviting composers, obtaining the approval of the individual publishers to play music from their titles and assembling the concert programs.〔 He did not want to limit the selection of compositions performed to European games, but instead opted for the best Asian, American and European titles of recent years, providing a wide range of musical styles.〔 Böcker's main focus with the ''First Symphonic Game Music Concert'' was to honor publishers that had worked with live orchestras before.〔 The majority of compositions had already been recorded with this kind of ensemble in the past which reduced the development stage to four months, beginning in mid-April 2003.〔 Following feedback from attendants of the first event, more music from classic games was added to the programs. The concerts took Böcker almost one year each to plan〔 and started to include more new and experimental arrangements that, instead of just being presented as an orchestral version of the source material, were based on their creators' personal interpretations of the original pieces.〔 The pioneer work done by Böcker and his team resulted in a lot of publisher support for game concerts outside of Japan and paved the way for many similar events.〔 The ''Symphonic Game Music Concerts'' have since become widely known for its numerous world premieres, some of which have been reused in ''Press Start -Symphony of Games-'', ''PLAY! A Video Game Symphony'' and ''Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy''. Böcker was involved with ''PLAY!'' in a leading role from 2005 to 2007,〔 and was working as a consultant for ''Distant Worlds'' from 2007 to 2011. Favoring a more classical atmosphere, the series does not rely on showing game footage or extensive light effects, but rather on the quality of the music and its performance. The original inspiration ''GC in Concert'' drew from the ''Orchestral Game Music Concerts'' was reflected in the presentation and rearrangement of two of its compositions〔 and the use of orchestra figures designed by Chisa Suzuki, akin to those depicted on the ''Orchestral Game Music Concert'' CD covers.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://vgmdb.net/album/877 )〕 Many famous game music composers have attended the events and the associated autograph sessions,〔 while Shiro Hamaguchi, Michiru Yamane, Yuzo Koshiro and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi actively participated in the series as guest arrangers and performers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Symphonic Game Music Concerts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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