. Video Games Live. Emmanuel Fratianni, guest conductor.
HOUSTON (June 26, 2017) – The highly successfulHouston Symphony multimedia concert experience will return to the Houston Symphony for the fifth time at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 14, at Jones Hall. A brand-new show from years past, the entertaining spectacle will be led by guest conductor Emmanuel Fratianni.
Created by host and guitarist Tommy Tallerico, the concert will include live orchestral music, solo performers and exclusive video footage on three giant screens with synchronized lighting and live action. The program will include music from Final Fantasy to Zelda, Skyrim, Donkey Kong Country, Warcraft, Shadow of the Colossus, Pokémon, Mario and many more. The Houston Symphony Chorus will also appear on the program.
With a ticket purchase, a limited number of $100 Video Games Live Ultimate Gamer VIP Experience Passes are available, which includes a pre-concert production tour, a meeting with Tallerico, a free download card for the top-selling Video Games Live: Level 3 album, front of line access to the Video Games Live post-show meet-and-greet, and a signed piece of sheet music from the performance.
The concert will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston’s Theater District. For tickets and information, please call (713) 224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.
VIDEO GAMES LIVE
Friday, July 14, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Emmanuel Fratianni, conductor
Tommy Tallarico, host and guitar
Houston Symphony Chorus
Betsy Cook Weber, director
Tickets from $23
About Emmanuel Fratianni
Billboard Top-Ten artist Emmanuel Fratianni is an award-winning and highly regarded music director, conductor and composer based in Los Angeles. He has led prestigious American and international ensembles from San Francisco to Beijing.
His scores for video games have been performed by some of the world’s finest and most-recorded orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. His latest multi-media composition, Portale, for orchestra, children’s choir and soloists was performed at the 2013 opening of LAX’ Tom Bradley International Terminal. Emmanuel’s 2008 debut on the Billboard Top-Ten with EMI Classics Video Games Live, Vol.1 soundtrack (as composer, conductor and orchestrator) cemented his status in the classical/crossover orchestral world. His numerous awards and credits as a composer and collaborator include Soundtrack of the Year by PLAY magazine for the Advent Rising score, one GANG (Game Audio Network Guild) award and five GANG nominations.
A member of the Emmy-nominated music team for the CBS’ JAG for five seasons, Emmanuel made a home for himself beginning in 2002 on the major scoring stages in Los Angeles with the Hollywood Scoring Orchestra. He credits this invaluable experience in television and film with much of his success.
Playing piano at age 6, Emmanuel began his classical music studies at the Conservatory of Music in his hometown of Montreux. As a teen, he discovered the jazz of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock and began performing publicly at 14. By his late teens, his jazz quartet debuted on the outer stages of the famed Montreux Jazz Festival.
His prolific jazz composing was recognized when he was awarded Montreux’s most prestigious commission, September Suite. The live recording marked the beginning of Emmanuel¹s recording career, which he has continued with releases on EMI classics, Curb Records and Sumthing Else, to name a few.
Musically restless after the September Suite success, Emmanuel’s attention turned to collaborating with visual and movement artists in Europe before moving to Los Angeles. He continued his post-graduate training at UCLA privately with critically acclaimed television composers Alf Clausen (The Simpsons), and Jay Chattaway (StarTrek).
Emmanuel Fratianni is an active guest lecturer in both American and European music institutions on the subjects of music direction and conducting symphonic film music, video games and jazz. He lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, composer Laurie Robinson, and their son, Luciano.
About Tommy Tallerico
Tommy Tallarico is a veritable video game industry icon. As one of the most successful video game composers in history, he has helped revolutionize the gaming world, creating unique audio landscapes that enhance the video gaming experience. He is considered the person most instrumental in changing the industry from bleeps & bloops to real music now appreciated worldwide.
Writing music for video games for more than 27 years, he has won more than 50 industry awards and worked on more than 300 game titles. He currently holds five Guinness World Records, including the person who has worked on the most commercially released video games and the largest live symphony show (752,000 people in China). He founded Tommy Tallarico Studios, the multimedia industry’s largest audio production house. His top titles include Earthworm Jim, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Disney’s Aladdin, Spider-Man, Metroid Prime, and many others. His score for Advent Rising has been noted as “one of the greatest musical scores of all time” by websites such as Yahoo and Gamespot.
Tommy created Video Games Live, the first and most successful video game touring concert in the world. More than 11,000 people attended the debut performance in 2005 at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. Most of the game music played during the initial launch had never been performed live anywhere in the world. Since then more than three million people have experienced the show.
Tommy was the first musician to release a video game soundtrack worldwide (Tommy Tallarico’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1, Capitol Records); more than 15 have followed. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), a non-profit organization that educates and heightens the awareness of audio for the interactive world.
Born February 18, 1968, and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, he moved to Southern California at age 21 to pursue a career in entertainment. Homeless with no means of financial support, Tommy was discovered in a music store and started working in the video game industry within three days. His four grandparents, who came to America from Italy in the early 1900’s, instilled in him a great sense of hard work, compassion and love for others. Please visit www.tallarico.com.