A Night in Fantasia Eminence's debut concert,
A Night in Fantasia, was held on 31 October and 1 November 2003. It was born out of the idea that such an event had never been done before in Australia. The first of a series of concerts was mainly composed of music from
Final Fantasy and
Studio Ghibli films, and took place at Sydney Congress Hall with tickets that sold well before the night. The overall success as well as the enthusiastic support of the first concert proved a point to the organisers that such a concept of cultural music would appeal to a wide range of people. At this point the company running the concert was 'Infinity 8LUE', and the orchestra was the 'Infinity 8LUE Symphony Orchestra'.
A Night in Fantasia 2004 In 2004, the orchestra was fully formed, and held
A Night in Fantasia 2004 at Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 30 and 31 October. William Motzing became the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Daniel Smith became the Assistant Conductor and
Final Fantasy composer
Nobuo Uematsu was a guest of honour at all four performances. This concert marked the name change for the orchestra, as they became known as the Eminence Symphony Orchestra. Infinity 8LUE was the company behind the concert, and shortly after finalised the name change by becoming Eminence.
Piano Stories Alexey Yemtsov performed the first
Piano Stories concert on 15 April, at Verbrugghen Hall. Featuring work from Studio Ghibli,
Yoko Kanno and
Shirō Sagisu,
Piano Stories marked the beginning of a series of concerts celebrating piano scores from a selection of anime and gaming soundtracks.
World of John Williams 2005 saw Eminence present the
World of John Williams concert, held on 8 July at
Sydney Town Hall. Phillip Chu and Daniel Smith conducted the Eminence Symphony Orchestra and the Eminence Choir through performance featuring music from one of Hollywood's most recognised composers,
John Williams. His work from
Harry Potter, ''
Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Home Alone and Raiders of the Lost Ark was performed. Daniel Smith conducted the Australian Premiere of "Battle of the Heroes" (from Star Wars Episode III'').
Piano Stories II In the same year
Piano Stories II was held at Verbrugghen Hall with Stuart Wright performing pieces from various popular culture
video games and
anime including ''
Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, Voices of a Distant Star, Macross Plus and Noir''. The Eminence Quartet also appeared on the night. The concert was held on 6 August at Verbrugghen Hall.
Destiny: The Dream Time Ensemble Later on in 2005 Eminence presented
Destiny: The Dream Time Ensemble. Held at Verbrugghen Hall and the National Theatre, This marked the debut of a performance outside of Sydney, as the city of
Melbourne in Australia witnessed the 9 member elite
chamber music ensemble group perform music from a variety of composers. These included
Joe Hisaishi, Nobuo Uematsu,
Michiru Oshima,
Shirō Sagisu and
Toshihiko Sahashi. The concert also marked the first time Eminence utilised footage from the original films, games and television serials in alongside the music. The members of Destiny were: Hiroaki Yura (Violin), Ayako Ishikawa (Violin), Christian Boennelykke (
Viola), Kenichi Mizushima (
Violoncello), Hanae Seto (
Clarinet), James Fortune (
Flute), Joshua Hill (
Percussion), Chiron Meller (Percussion) and Jem Harding (Piano).
A Night in Fantasia 2005 A Night in Fantasia 2005 saw a large change in venue, this time to be held at the Sydney Town Hall. Philip Chu became Chief Conductor and the night's music programme also saw fresh changes (due to the work of the AV Director and co-producer) with the inclusion of many popular anime and video game titles including
Final Fantasy VII,
Kingdom Hearts,
Metal Gear Solid,
Neon Genesis Evangelion,
Onimusha,
Halo,
Fruits Basket,
Super Mario,
The Legend of Zelda,
Tsubasa Chronicle,
Gran Turismo,
InuYasha,
Naruto,
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War and
Rurouni Kenshin. The event wrote history by hosting the World Premiere of the
World of Warcraft Suite, and again saw the use of footage from the original titles alongside the music. The concert featured the Eminence Choir which assisted the wider music selection greatly.
Piano Stories III In 2006 Eminence brought the next chapter in the concert series Piano Stories. Featuring acclaimed pianist Alexey Yemtsov who had performed previously in the first
Piano Stories, the night highlighted Studio Ghibli and
Final Fantasy pieces. Special guest violinists Hiroaki Yura and Ayako Ishikawa were present, and was held on 15 April in Melbourne's National Theatre and on 22 April in Sydney's Verbrugghen Hall.
Spirited Away with Youmi This concert was designed to run alongside
A Night in Fantasia 2006.
Spirited Away with Youmi was held on the same day as Melbourne's concert and also took place on 6 July in Sydney.
Youmi Kimura performed songs from
Spirited Away,
Princess Mononoke and
My Neighbor Totoro among others.
A Night in Fantasia 2006 A Night in Fantasia 2006 was held on 2 July in
Melbourne Town Hall and 7 July in Sydney Town Hall. The concert featured music from
Final Fantasy,
Shadow of the Colossus and Studio Ghibli, and also welcomed special guest Youmi Kimura, the composer of both the
Spirited Away and ''Howl's Moving Castle's
ending themes. It also featured Hiroaki Yura on violin and Phillip Chu as conductor. The concert also premiered music from the newest addition to the Final Fantasy
series, Final Fantasy XII'' and was the world's first symphonic concert to be accompanied by footage from Studio Ghibli films.
Piano Stories IV Eminence's newest addition to the Piano Stories series featured pianist
Krzysztof Malek performing pieces from a number of video game titles including
Tetris, the
Final Fantasy series,
Xenogears,
The Legend of Zelda and
Kingdom Hearts II as well as a number of anime titles including
Noir,
My Neighbour Totoro,
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,
Azumanga Daioh,
Neon Genesis Evangelion,
Fullmetal Alchemist and
Gundam SEED Destiny. Eminence also announced a mystery guest artist that would appear alongside
Krzysztof Malek, which would later be revealed to be Ayako Ishikawa on the violin. The Melbourne performance was part of the
Manifest convention, and was held in Melba Hall within
The University of Melbourne on 23 September. Sydney's concert took place in Verbrugghen Hall within the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 14 October.
Passion Eminence announced a new concert series that began in December featuring Ayako Ishikawa and Hiroaki Yura on violin and also featured Natalia Raspopova on piano, Joshua Hill on percussion and
Zane Banks on the
guitar. On their minisite for the concert, Eminence announced that they collaborated with Japanese video game composers
Yasunori Mitsuda and
Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose work was featured alongside other notable anime and video game titles. The concert was held in Melbourne on 9 December at the Merlyn Theatre, followed by Sydney on 16 December at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, finally ending with Eminence's debut Singapore concert on 23 December and was held at the
Victoria Concert Hall. Yasunori Mitsuda was a special guest of honour for all three performances, and also played the
bouzouki. Hitoshi Sakimoto also joined him as a guest, though only at the Sydney performance. The concert featured music from games such as
Chrono Trigger,
Chrono Cross,
Vagrant Story,
Final Fantasy XII,
Xenosaga,
Shadow of the Colossus and
Super Mario Bros. The anime pieces came from a number of sources including
Haibane Renmei,
Tsubasa Chronicle and
.hack//Liminality.
A Night in Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition First announced at their Passion concert, Eminence chose to split their annual concert series into two performances, the first of which solely focused on video games. The concerts took place at Sydney Town Hall on 20 and 21 April 2007, and the concert in Melbourne was performed in
Hamer Hall on 27 April 2007. Special guest composers included
Hitoshi Sakimoto, Junichi Nakatsuru and
Masaru Shiina, present at all of the concerts.
Yoko Shimomura was also slated to appear at all concerts, but was prevented from attending the Melbourne concert for unknown reasons. In addition,
Yasunori Mitsuda,
Kow Otani and
Shirō Hamaguchi joined the aforementioned composers as guests in both Sydney performances. The concert featured music from
Super Mario Bros.,
Kingdom Hearts II, the
Metal Gear Solid series, the
Final Fantasy series,
World of Warcraft,
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,
Shadow of the Colossus,
Tales of Legendia,
Xenosaga Episode 1,
Soulcalibur 3,
Odin Sphere,
Legend of Mana and
Deltora Quest, with "Time's Scar" from
Chrono Cross featured as encores in both Sydney and Melbourne. However, "One Winged Angel" from
Final Fantasy VII was played as an encore to the Sydney performances, while the Melbourne performance received a repeat of the
Metal Gear Solid theme. The concert also included the Eminence Choir, who last performed in
A Night in Fantasia 2005. In addition to video game music, a piece from
Romeo x Juliet and one from
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was performed.
Destiny – Reunion Accompanying the announcement of Ayako's Violin Recital, was Destiny – Reunion, a continuation of Destiny in 2005, performed on 28 July, including a brand new line up of music from some of the world's most famous video games and anime. Featuring Eminence founder, Hiroaki Yura among the musicians playing, the concert included never-before-heard arrangements exclusive to Destiny – Reunion.
A Night in Fantasia 2007: Anime Edition The second part of the concert series focused entirely on anime, and the programme given out at Passion indicated a 'late 2007' concert date for both Sydney and Melbourne. At the 2007 Symphonic Games Edition concert, questionnaires were handed out, one of which asked attendees to list music found in various anime that they would like to hear in the concert. In October, entertainment website IGN announced the date – two consecutive concerts would be held on 18 November in the Sir John Clancy Auditorium of the
University of New South Wales. Both concerts would feature music from famous anime including:
Neon Genesis Evangelion,
Tsubasa Chronicle,
Noir,
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette,
Xenosaga II,
Porco Rosso,
.hack//Liminality and
Elfen Lied. Famous Japanese composer and music producer
Yuki Kajiura was the special guest during the concert and participated in a question and answer session with the host. Pamphlets were then handed out, which detailed the next future concert of the Eminence Symphony Orchestra,
Unearthing Eden.
Unearthing Eden ~The sounds of AINARU~ A follow-up on A Night in Fantasia 2007: Anime Edition, this performance was again a smaller-sized quintet, which featured a collaboration with Japanese composer, Kow Otani and Japanese singer
AIKa. The concert was held in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Sydney for two days, but both days saw little audience in the performances.
A Night in Fantasia 2009 After two years without having performed a concert of the magnitude of A Night in Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition, Eminence announced in February on a teaser website their next event, A Night in Fantasia 2009. Performed on 26 September 2009, the concert was held only on one night in Sydney at the
Sydney Entertainment Centre. Music featured included suites from
DEATH NOTE,
Princess Mononoke,
My Neighbor Totoro and
Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Full pieces performed included James Hannigan's
Soviet March from
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3,
The Unsung War from
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War,
Tonari Ni (Beside Me) from
The Idolmaster composed by
Go Shiina and performed by
Chiaki Takahashi, and the world premiere of
Dragon Age: Origins ending theme,
I Am The One, sung by Aubrey Ashburn. The majority of the arrangements were created by
AFRIKA composer
Wataru Hokoyama. Other guests included
Kow Otani and AIKA Tsuneoka, who performed a suite from
Shadow of the Colossus,
Inon Zur,
Yasunori Mitsuda and
Cris Velasco.
Other performances Australian PlayStation 3 media launch On 22 February 2007,
Sony held the Australian media launch for
PlayStation 3 in Sydney. Announcing Sony's sponsorship of Eminence for
A Night in Fantasia 2007: Symphonic Games Edition, the orchestra performed a piece from
Final Fantasy XII and a piece from
Shadow of the Colossus as part of the presentation.
Hillsong Conference In July 2007, the Eminence Symphony Orchestra performed at the opening ceremony for the
Hillsong Conference, an annual mid-year Christian conference held in Sydney, Australia. == Recordings ==