Final Symphony Concert Tour Returns To London For Brand New Series Of Final Fantasy Music

Dresden, March 19th, 2015 – Following a sell-out world tour and hit album, Final Symphony, the critically acclaimed FINAL FANTASY® concert series from leading production company Merregnon Studios, will return to London at the Barbican Centre on September 12th, with an exclusive, all-new series of music.

Titled Final Symphony II, and performed by the world famous London Symphony Orchestra, this is a concert set to delight fans with a musical series that takes in some of Nobuo Uematsu’s most treasured themes from Final Fantasy V, VIII and IX. In addition, the London Barbican concert will also feature a new suite of music from Final Fantasy XIII, arranged by original composer Masashi Hamauzu.

To make the evening even more special, composer Nobuo Uematsu will be in attendance and is set to take part in a ticketed, pre-concert talk. Here he’ll discuss his musical career and influences while answering questions from the audience in what is sure to be a fascinating insight into the world of the video game music.

“It’s wonderful that we’re able to return to the Barbican with such an exciting new series of music,” said Final Symphony II producer, Thomas Böcker. “Performing the original Final Symphony with the LSO back in 2013 was a musical dream come true, and recording the album at Abbey Road Studios was the icing on the cake. The arrangers, Roger Wanamo and Jonne Valtonen – plus Masashi Hamauzu – have been working very hard on something extremely special and we think it’s exactly what fans of Final Fantasy have been waiting for!”

“We’re thrilled to be welcoming Final Fantasy fans back for Final Symphony II,” said Gareth Davies, the LSO’s Principal Flute, who’ll also be joining Uematsu-san for the pre-concert talk. “Working on the concert and album for the first Final Symphony was a wonderful experience. The music is incredibly epic and fantastically arranged for the orchestra, and it’s hugely exciting to be playing the music of Uematsu and Hamauzu again. We can’t wait for fans to experience it.”

Final Symphony II marks the third concert collaboration between the London Symphony Orchestra and Merregnon Studios, the original Final Symphony having been the orchestra’s first live performance of video game music. The LSO also performed on Final Symphony the album, which was recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios and released digitally, around the world, earlier this year.  Described as “one of the best video game music albums ever made,” by leading website VGMOnline.net, it went straight to the top of the iTunes Classical chart in more than ten countries at launch, including the UK, USA, Canada, France and Sweden, while also racking up top five Classical Album positions in both the Billboard and Official UK Charts. As released by X5 Music Group on February 23rd this year, Final Symphony the album is available globally on iTunes, Amazon MP3, & Spotify;  as well as all digital retailers.

Watch the official trailer here:

Tickets for Final Symphony II go on sale tomorrow, March 20th, from 10am, and range in price from £30 to £65. Tickets for the pre-concert talk by Nobuo Uematsu will also go on sale at the same time, priced at £10 each. To book tickets please visit the official concert site: www.lso.co.uk/finalsymphonyii

For more information on the Final Symphony II concert tour, Final Symphony album and Merregnon Studios’ other productions, please visit www.gameconcerts.com

Final Symphony and Final Symphony II © 2013-2015 Merregnon Studios. Licensed by Square Enix. FINAL FANTASY is a registered trademark or trademark of Square Enix Group Co., Ltd.

About Merregnon Studios
Founded by Thomas Böcker, Merregnon Studios was the first company to stage and produce a video game music concert outside Japan in 2003, at the Leipziger Gewandhaus in Germany. It continues to produce concerts annually all over the world, including the ongoing tour of its hugely popular Final Symphony series, which to date has been performed in Sweden, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Denmark and Finland.

Merregnon Studios produced the first all-European video game concert production to take place in Japan and has been the first company ever to work with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra on live performances of video game music. The company has won several awards for best concert productions and has worked with X5 Music Group, DECCA and Deutsche Grammophon to release a number of CDs and digital albums featuring video game music, its most recent Final Symphony album, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, having placed in the top five of both the Billboard and Official UK Classical Album charts.

For more info, please visit: www.merregnon.com

About X5 Music Group
X5 Music Group (http://www.x5musicgroup.com) is a leader in digital music, having pioneered a new sales and promotion model that has met with considerable international success including 13 Billboard 200 debuts in the US and a lock on Amazon's top classical music downloads chart. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, they recently embarked on a major expansion in the US, headquartered in the Empire State Building.