What is the concept/theme behind the concert, and the name Destiny: Reunion?
Destiny is an idea, where we can showcase the virtuosity of each musician by performing as a small ensemble. Reunion is just the fact that Destiny has come back again, our last Destiny concert was held in September 2005.
Will the music pieces chosen be original arrangements, or faithful to the source material?
Yes. The music by Sakimoto and Mitsuda has all been arranged by Basiscape (Sakimoto’s company) and Sakimoto and Mitsuda have been closely involved in order to ensure that the arrangements are authentic.
Natsumi Kameoka is another of our arrangers, she is one of the veteran arrangers used for game music arrangements in Japan and is working on other arrangements for music.
Given that the concert features a quintet, have you adapted any larger, complex orchestral pieces to fit the subtler style?
Yes we have, I feared that it would sound a little weak but after a couple of rehearsals, it sounded just fine!
Also, the fact that the musicians involved in this concert are one of the best that Eminence has to offer, means that we are creating a very powerful sound as an ensemble.
Who are the performers?
- Hiroaki Yura - Violin
- Kenny Kao - Violin
- Andrew Marciniak - Viola
- Minah Choe - Violoncello
- Kumiko Ito - Piano
Can you explain the location choices for the tour? How did the Japan and US events come about?
Japan – Mitsuda san and I have been talking about it for nearly a year now and we’re very happy that this has come to happen. To broaden the variety of the music, Sakimoto has also joined our ranks.
USA – Our production co-ordinators have been working on trying to go to the United States for almost a year now.
We have contact with Michael Gluck, aka Piano Squall. He is a famous pianist in the US performing a lot of Final Fantasy and game music on piano. He has put us in contact with anime conventions such as Otakon, who has kindly invited us to perform at their convention.
We notice that the Yokohama show has completely sold out. Is there a large Eminence fan base in Japan?
Well as a result of the YouTube exposure we have had, there are now quite a number of fans who want to see us perform in Japan.
Are any notable special guests involved with Destiny?
The guests will be in Japan (Mitsuda and Sakimoto) and in the USA (Sakimoto). They have come to Australia a number of times this year so they’ll come back here next year!
There seems to be an air of mystery surrounding the concerts, and a teaser anime/game list adds to the suspense. Will there be unannounced pieces, or any other surprises to expect?
Yes! There will be some announced and loads of world premiere’s including beautiful music from Romeo X Juliet. I won’t spoil the rest.
Games and anime fuse together for this concert. Have the tracks been chosen with a specific theme in mind, regardless of the source material?
The music has been chosen in order to make a good balance within the program. The specific titles from anime/games haven’t been considered apart from the fact that I did try and balance games and anime as a 50/50 mixture in the program, but that really wasn’t our priority.
Any hints of upcoming events for 2007?
Yes, Ko Ohtani, the composer of Shadow of the Colossus and Haibane Renmei will be here in Australia as a guest AND will perform with Eminence in Sydney in December 2007 for a unique version of A Night in Fantasia 2007: Anime Edition!
PALGN would like to extend its continuing thanks to Hiroaki Yura and Eminence Symphony Orchestra for always taking the time to drop by for a chat. For those interested in Destiny: Reunion and other Eminence events, head over to the official website, and check out the specific Destiny: Reunion dates below.
A video of Hiro's performance can be found here.
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