Yuki Hayashi, Makoto Miyazaki, and Yasuharu Takanashi will be touring North America as part of the Symphonic Anime, a project dedicated to showcasing the music from anime titles. The three composers will be joined by Thanapol Setabrahmana as a conductor and Nan Sathida as a guest vocalist. The concerts will take place in September:
- Montreal, 6 September 2024 Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (Canada)
- Toronto, 7 September 2024 Meridian Hall (Canada)
- Boston, 13 September 2024, Boston Symphony Hall (USA)
The Symphonic Anime project began in 2017. According to Mr. Setabrahmana, who is the Assistant Music Director of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the plan was to create a program that the orchestra would perform in its regular season, but one that would be different from the classical pieces. They decided to go with anime and video game music and reached out to a number of composers to see if any of them would be interested in participating and providing the license for materials.
It took two years for Symphonic Anime to come to life, but the project was fuelled by a world premiere of Hunter x Hunter (2011) OST by Yoshihisa Hirano. “We collaborated and created a suite of seven movements from the Chimera Ant Arc, because back then we started off with an idea of doing maybe a medley of selections from many different pieces,” says Setabrahmana. The goal was to present what is still considered niche to a wider audience, in a live format. Composers who took part in previous concerts include Taku Iwasaki and Kaoru Wada. COVID-19 slowed down the plan for a while, but after the pandemic calmed down Symphonic Anime came back by adding even more names to its roster.
“Some [music] scores were already made read to be performed by a live orchestra, while of them exist in a recording version, which is not ready for live performance. I [and] my team adapted those scores to suit live performance.” Sometimes these performances include opening and ending theme songs, which end up offering visitors exclusive experience adds Setabrahmana.
This will be the first time they are heading to North America. According to Setabrahmana, visitors can expect a variety of new arrangements. Using Yasuharu Takanashi’s music as an example he says: “The original version already has some rock elements so we try to translate that into an orchestral epic style.” In addition to classic Naruto tracks, such as “Samidare,” fans of Fairy Tail can also expect to hear something new.
Tickets are now on sale and include Meet & Greet option with the composers in attendance. More than 100 musicians will be performing music from titles such as Naruto, Attack on Titan, and Demon Slayer, with epic orchestral arrangements of their iconic soundtracks.
