renowned composer, of the hit video game franchise Final Fantasy

presenting...

oboN ematsuU

Distant Worlds Concert Live at Carnegie Hall!

Carnegie Hall’s mission is to present extraordinary music and musicians on the three stages of this legendary hall, to bring the transformative power of music to the widest possible audience, to provide visionary education programs, and to foster the future of music through the cultivation of new works, artists, and audiences.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.carnegiehall.org

Nobuo Uematsu was born in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture,Japan. A self-taught musician, he began to play the piano when he was eleven or twelve years old, and he did not take any formal piano lessons. He has an older sister who also played the piano. After graduating from Kanagawa University, Uematsu played the keyboard in several amateur bands and composed music fortelevision commercials.

Carnegie Hall212 247 7800Seven Days a Week, 8 AM–8 PM 881 Seventh AvenueNew York, NY 10019Administrative Offices212 903 9600Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM

Final Fantasy’s popularity sparked Uematsu’s career in video game music

presenting...

oboN ematsuU

Distant Worlds Concert Live at Carnegie Hall!

Carnegie Hall’s mission is to present extraordinary music and musicians on the three stages of this legendary hall, to bring the transformative power of music to the widest possible audience, to provide visionary education programs, and to foster the future of music through the cultivation of new works, artists, and audiences.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.carnegiehall.org

Nobuo Uematsu was born in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture,Japan. A self-taught musician, he began to play the piano when he was eleven or twelve years old, and he did not take any formal piano lessons. He has an older sister who also played the piano. After graduating from Kanagawa University, Uematsu played the keyboard in several amateur bands and composed music fortelevision commercials.

Carnegie Hall212 247 7800Seven Days a Week, 8 AM–8 PM 881 Seventh AvenueNew York, NY 10019Administrative Offices212 903 9600Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM

Uematsu’s compositions is diverse, ranging from stately classical symphonic pieces and heavy metal to New Age and hyper-percussive techno-electronica.

presenting...

oboN ematsuU

Distant Worlds Concert Live at Carnegie Hall!

Carnegie Hall’s mission is to present extraordinary music and musicians on the three stages of this legendary hall, to bring the transformative power of music to the widest possible audience, to provide visionary education programs, and to foster the future of music through the cultivation of new works, artists, and audiences.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.carnegiehall.org

Nobuo Uematsu was born in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture,Japan. A self-taught musician, he began to play the piano when he was eleven or twelve years old, and he did not take any formal piano lessons. He has an older sister who also played the piano. After graduating from Kanagawa University, Uematsu played the keyboard in several amateur bands and composed music fortelevision commercials.

Carnegie Hall212 247 7800Seven Days a Week, 8 AM–8 PM 881 Seventh AvenueNew York, NY 10019Administrative Offices212 903 9600Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM

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Immerse youself in the beautiful music of Nobo UematsuBy Hall Omarr, Editor

0020220 Music from Final Fantasy was the first official concert devoted to music from across the Final Fantasy series. The music of 20020220 was arranged for orchestra from the original songs composed by Nobuo Uematsu primarily by Uematsu himself and Shiro Hama-guchi, with “At Zanarkand” and “Yuna’s Decision” arranged by Masashi Hamauzu, and was per-formed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra on February 20, 2002 at the Tokyo International Forum. The orchestra played 17 songs over a period of almost two hours. The setlist ranged covered songs from the very first Final Fantasy game through Final Fantasy X, the latest game to have been released.

Worldy & Classical | June 2011

2Worldy & Classical | June 2011

Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hi-ronobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 as an epony-mous console role-playing game developed by Square, spawning a video game series that became the central focus of the franchise. The primary composer of music for the main series was Nobuo Uematsu, who single-handedly composed the soundtracks for the first nine games, as well as directing the production of many of the soundtrack albums.

Uematsu joined Square (later Square Enix) in 1986, where he met Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. They have worked together on many video game titles, most notably the games in the Final Fantasy series. After

nearly 20 years in the company, he left Square Enix in 2004 to found his own company called Smile Please, and the music production company Dog Ear Records. He has since composed music as a free-

lancer for video games primarily developed by Square Enix and Sakaguchi’s development studio Mistwalker.

Soundtracks and arranged albums of Uematsu’s game scores have been released. Pieces from his video game works have been performed in Final Fantasy concerts. He has worked with Grammy Award-winning conductor Arnie Roth on several of these concerts. Uematsu

left Square Enix in 2004 and formed his own com-pany called Smile Please; he also created the music production company Dog Ear Records in 2006. †

You’ll lose yourself in another world when you listen to the diverse stylings of self-taught pianist, Nobo Uematsu.

“Final Fantasy's popularity sparked Uematsu's career in video game music, and he would go on to compose music for over 30 titles, mostly within the Final Fantasy series.”