For the first time ever, the Proms will feature music from video game soundtracks. Music from the likes of Battlefield 2042, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus and Dear Esther will feature as part of the annual classical music festival in a performance that’s been titled “From 8-Bit to Infinity”.
The BBC is looking to explore “fantastic worlds, epic adventures, complex characters and huge moral choices” with this year’s addition to the Proms line-up. It will feature the works of renowned composers such as Oscar winning composer of Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir, who also composed the hectic and pulse-pounding score for last year’s Battlefield 2042.
The concert, taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on 1st August, will feature orchestral renditions of tracks from iconic soundtracks and will look to expand the BBC Proms into new music genres and sources.
Orchestral arrangements of everything from 8-Bit chiptune music to the grand sweeping scores found on today’s modern blockbuster titles will feature, taking audiences on a journey through the history of video game soundtracks. This concert will be curated and conducted by Robert Ames who has previously worked on the 2009 Proms “Sound of Space” theme, which featured music from sci-fi films.
He explains how the music found in sci-fi films and video games often crosses over and is intrinsically linked: “The history of video game music and electronic music in general are very closely linked. Early gaming was not technologically advanced enough to accommodate orchestras or analogue music, so composers would be as creative as possible within the boundaries of the hardware and software of the time.”
David Pickard, director of the Proms, shared some insight into why this year’s Proms are the first to feature music from video games: “We’ve always very happily put on concerts of film music, [but] I think if I’m honest we haven’t felt it was quite the right moment to put on a gaming music prom until now, because we were still waiting for a lot of composers to enter this field.”
From 8-Bit to Infinity will take place in London this August with tickets starting at £14, or you can watch the BBC’s broadcast on 5th August.
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