The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses

The name "Symphony of the Goddesses" refers not only to the concert program but also to the four-movement symphony recounting the storylines from several games in The Legend of Zelda series: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and The Wind Waker. The concert also highlighted orchestral renditions of music from other series games, including ''Link's Awakening, Majora's Mask, Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, and Tri Force Heroes''. Conductors of the concerts have included Eímear Noone, Kelly Corcoran, Kevin Zakresky and Jessica Gethin. ==History==

In June 2011, at Nintendo's Electronic Entertainment Expo press event, Jason Michael Paul Productions hired composer Chad Seiter and Producer Jeron Moore to create a four-minute overture spanning 25 years of Zelda music accompanied by images from the same period. After this performance, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo announced that an orchestral CD would accompany the release of Skyward Sword, also produced by Jason Michael Paul Productions with Composer Chad Seiter and recorded by Hollywood recording engineer Bruce Botnick. A 25th Anniversary concert series would be performed in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and London. All of the concerts were produced by Jason Michael Paul Productions. Evolving from the 25th anniversary concert series, "The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses" concert series kicked off in January 2012 in Dallas, and toured the U.S. and Canada. The second season, known as "Second Quest" (after a feature found in many Zelda games) consisted of concerts in spring, summer, and fall of 2013. The show went on hiatus after its final "Second Quest" performance in San Jose, California, at the San Jose Civic, performed by the Skywalker Ranch Orchestra. The third season, known as "Master Quest", consisted of worldwide concerts in 2015 and 2016 and achieved the most success of any of the Zelda Symphony tours traveling to over 150 cities. This continued as the production further iterated until its tour concluded in 2018. ==Schedule==

Original season The San Francisco event in March 2012 included over 1000 attendees. The Los Angeles concert in June featured Zelda Williams (daughter of actor Robin Williams) as the emcee. Second Quest A concert was held in July 2013 in Baltimore. Concerts were held in August in Newark, New Jersey, September in Seattle, October in Grand Rapids, and December in San Jose, California. Master Quest Symphony of the Goddesses started a worldwide 2015 tour of a third season entitled "Master Quest". The five-movement symphony featured an all new movement from Skyward Sword, a much-anticipated arrangement from Breath of the Wild, and a reimagined score including music from A Link Between Worlds, Twilight Princess, the remake of ''Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past'', and more. ==Other performances==

In September 2015, the Nintendo World Store in New York City hosted a Zelda Symphony event, which consisted of a live musical performance by a string quartet from The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, an ocarina demo by David Ramos (a.k.a. DocJazz), photo opportunities of cosplaying fans, and Zelda Symphony merchandise. Executive producer Jason Michael Paul, Associate Producer Jacob Battersby and conductor Amy Andersson were also in attendance. On October 13, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert hosted, as its musical guest, a performance from The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses (with conductor Amy Andersson) to promote the tour dates as well as the release of Tri Force Heroes. ==Reception==

The series has been well received by the video game press. Writing for The Tech, Jessica Pourian said the silent nature of series protagonist Link worked well with the video displayed during the concert, helping to immerse the audience more than with video game concerts where dialogue is included. She noted extraordinary applause for the concert. She said she left the event wanting to go back and play Zelda games. Tony Ponce of Destructoid found the music "awe-inspiring", "pure magic", and "as rich and as varied as the games themselves", while expressing a desire to hear some of the music cut from the performance. Wired noted "many truly breathtaking moments" during the concert, saying the concert highlighted key moments in the music of the series. Wired said people need not even know the series well to enjoy the concert. Wired did complain of "dreadful live camerawork" and noted that the crowd was not particularly reserved. ==References==