Square Enix U.S.A. today announced that it would present the first ever Final Fantasy symphony concert in the United States on Monday, May 10th, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The event will take place just one day before the start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Full details about the concert and the companies and people behind it can be found in the official release below.

Square Enix Presents ‘Dear Friends - Music From FINAL FANTASY-” Concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall

FINAL FANTASY Debuts First Orchestral Concert in North America Celebrating Video Game Music

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ — Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. (”Square Enix U.S.A.”), the publisher of Square Enix(TM) interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that they will present the first FINAL FANTASY(R) symphony concert in the U.S. on Monday, May 10, 2004, at the prestigious Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Calif. The performance will feature music from Square Enix’s world-renowned FINAL FANTASY video game series, performed by the acclaimed Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. This exciting event will be taking place during the week of E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the largest interactive entertainment trade show in the U.S.

“I am overjoyed about the FINAL FANTASY concert to be held in Los Angeles,” said series composer Nobuo Uematsu. “With this being the first FINAL FANTASY orchestral concert outside of Japan, it marks a very exciting moment in the history of the franchise. I am looking forward to seeing our fans at the concert in May.”

“FINAL FANTASY’s award-winning scores have captivated gamers worldwide and now we have an opportunity to share some of the series’ most memorable melodies with our fans and concertgoers for the first time in the U.S.,” said Jun Iwasaki, president and CEO, Square Enix U.S.A. “We are thrilled to bring this event to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The audience will be able to experience the emotionally-moving and powerful scores that have made melodies of FINAL FANTASY the finest in games.”

Uematsu will create the score for the two-hour concert. Featuring a full orchestra and a 32-person choir, this concert will mark the first of its kind in the U.S. A dedicated Web site featuring composer Uematsu, the “favorite FINAL FANTASY music” fan survey and concert information can be found at http://www.square-enix-usa.com/uematsu . Additional information about the concert including ticket sales, prices and on-sale dates will be announced at a later date.

The first FINAL FANTASY concert was held in Japan in February 2002, performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Led by famed conductor Taizo Takemoto (New Japan Philharmonic), the sold-out concert was held at the Tokyo International Forum with over 5,000 guests. Building upon the success of the first concert, Square Enix recently announced a six-city, seven-show concert series titled “Tour de Japon — music from FINAL FANTASY–,” which will be held this coming March and April in Japan.

Video game music has become increasingly popular in the last few years — with the technology available in today’s gaming consoles, video game music has been able to move beyond the stereotypical blips and bleeps of its predecessors and has become more sophisticated. Music in games today plays an integral role, enhancing the gamers’ overall gameplay experience. While still a growing market, video game soundtracks are now sold in major outlets and feature a variety of genres including rock, hip-hop, electronica, classical compositions and songs performed by popular artists. The FINAL FANTASY soundtracks, which are original compositions, have grown to such popularity and the series’ veteran composer Nobuo Uematsu was named as one of the “Innovators” in Time Magazine’s “Time 100: The Next Wave — Music” feature. Square Enix hopes to pioneer the appreciation and awareness of not only its musical creations, but also video game music throughout the industry. Currently available exclusively on America Online’s Radio@ Network, the FINAL FANTASY radio station features 200 tracks from the top-selling FINAL FANTASY video games and is available for listeners on Radio@AOL, Radio@AOL for Broadband and Radio@Netscape under the “Soundtracks & More” category. This is the first ever radio station on the AOL Radio@ Network dedicated to a single video game franchise.

About FINAL FANTASY
FINAL FANTASY is one of the best-selling video game franchises in the world, with more than 48 million units sold worldwide. Created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the first FINAL FANTASY was released in 1987 in Japan and 1990 in North America. Spanning across multiple platforms, the long running series has introduced the world of cinematic role-playing games (RPGs) to millions of gamers around the world. The most recent installment in the series, FINAL FANTASY XI, is the first online title in the series and provides a brand new gaming universe that contains the award-winning visual content, innovative gameplay and deep storyline seen throughout the series. It is also the first cross-platform (players are connected to the same world whether they are playing on a PlayStation(R) 2 computer entertainment system or personal computer) and first cross-continent massively-multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG). The twelfth installment, FINAL FANTASY XII, is currently being developed and scheduled for release in Japan in summer 2004.

About Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, which launches its 86th season in October 2004 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, has developed steadily in artistic stature and prominence since it was founded in 1919. Today, under the dynamic leadership of Esa-Pekka Salonen, who became the orchestra’s tenth music director in 1992, the Philharmonic is recognized as one of the world’s outstanding orchestras, received enthusiastically by audiences and critics alike. Both at home and abroad, it has, as the Berliner Zeitung stated, “…proved that it belongs among the best in the United States.”

This is a view shared by the more than one million Southern Californians who experience performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic each year. There is a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, where “Music Under the Stars” has been a popular tradition since 1922. The orchestra’s involvement with Los Angeles also extends far beyond regular symphony concerts in a concert hall, embracing schools, churches, and neighborhood centers of a huge and vastly diverse community. More information can be found at http://www.laphil.com/ .

About Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, is one of the most recognized architectural landmarks on the West Coast and one of the world’s most sophisticated and acclaimed concert halls. The curved exterior of the 293,000-square-foot Walt Disney Concert Hall embodies the energy, innovation, and creative spirit of the city of Los Angeles and its orchestra. The sculptural composition of the hall is already a striking addition to the city’s cultural and architectural landscape. The building occupies a 3.6-acre site - a full city block at the intersection of First Street and Grand Avenue in the historic Bunker Hill area of downtown Los Angeles. More information can be found at http://www.laphil.com/ .

About Square Enix Co. Ltd. and Square Enix U.S.A., Inc.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) develops, publishes and distributes entertainment contents including interactive entertainment software and publications in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Square Enix brings two of Japan’s best-selling franchises — FINAL FANTASY(R), which has sold over 48 million units worldwide and DRAGON QUEST (DRAGON WARRIOR(R) in North America) which has sold over 31 million units worldwide — under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.

Square Enix U.S.A. Inc., located in Los Angeles, Calif., handles operations in North America including localization, marketing and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix U.S.A. can be found on the Internet at http://www.square-enix-usa.com/

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