Musical selections from popular video game original soundtracks (OSTs) were presented to an audience of students, faculty and community members as part of a passion project orchestrated by junior Korben Robinson.
The concert was held on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the Redfern Arts Center’s Alumni Recital Hall and featured five songs.
Andrew Prahlow’s “Travelers” (from the game “Outer Wilds”), Lena Raine’s “Supper Woods” (from “Chicory: A Colorful Tale”), Disasterpeace’s “Panacea” (from “Hyper Light Drifter”), Yasuaki Iwata’s “Kass’s Theme” (from “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”) and Go Ichinose’s “Prelude to the Champion Part I” (from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl-Platinum) were performed by a group of six students, as well as Associate Professor of Music Christina Wright-Ivanova, who performed piano for the finishing number, ‘Prelude to the Champion Part I.”
First-year clarinet player Matthew Derouin created an original arrangement for Iwata’s “Kass’s Theme.”
Robinson said the idea for a concert showcasing video game soundtracks had been in his mind since high school. Robinson, who felt that the niche genre lacked representation, said he wanted to share the music outside of a gaming context.
“I’ve always wanted to do this, and it all came together when I decided to finally go for it,” said Robinson.
“This music is underrepresented for sure, and that’s a shame because it’s all out there and accessible. Composers are uploading the sheet music, and fans of the games are transcribing it so that it can be played and enjoyed,” added Robinson.
Robinson said he pitched the idea for the concert to Wright-Ivanova during the spring 2024 semester and worked to build the concert from scratch as an independent passion project.
“It took a lot of emailing and coordinating to organize the show and find a team to work with, and we’ve had to change the talent lineup a few times, but it’s all worth it,” said Robinson.
Wright-Ivanova was excited to see students taking initiative to share music with the community outside of the traditional musical curriculum.
“This wasn’t part of the curriculum at all, and it was totally initiated and built from the ground up by [Robinson] and his team,” said Wright-Ivanova.
“[Robinson] did a wonderful job preparing the show and performing it with his student colleagues, and I’m very proud of the work they all put it, and feel honored to have played a role in it,” added Wright-Ivanova.
Junior Emma Hunter and fifth-year student Amelia Guarino attended the concert to support their colleague.
“I really thought it was cool that they were doing something with video game music, and as a composer, I’d honestly love to compose music for video games someday, if I ever had the chance,” said Guarino.
“I totally agree that it’s underrepresented, especially since music students are normally confined to classical music. I was really glad that we got to hear something break that mold,” added Guarino.
Hunter said a video game-centric concert was a pleasant surprise.
“I didn’t know that it was a video game concert at first, and I was very excited to have such a unique experience. I’ve played some of these games myself, and it was nice to see it being represented,” said Hunter.
“I agree with [Robinson] and [Guarino] that a lot of what we do is strictly within the classical music structure, and it was refreshing to see something outside of that,” added Hunter.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
