"Dear Friends: Music
from 'Final Fantasy –
recalls epic story arcs of
enemies defeated, spells
cast and love won and lost
— all enhanced with
large screens to display
images from the video
games.

Conductor Arnie Roth brings video game favorite to the musical stage.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to the Jewish News

rnie Roth, a classically trained musician and conductor, never stops cel-
ebrating the pure sounds of instruments while keeping up with
advances in performance technology. He will show how the two forces
can come together in concert when he conducts the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra in "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy."
The program, presenting music composed by Nobuo Uematsu for the high-
tech videogame series Final Fantasy, will be presented 8 p.m. Saturday and
Sunday, July 23-24, at Orchestra Hall, located in the Max M. Fisher Music
Center in Detroit.
The production, which also will feature a local chorus still to be announced,
recalls epic story arcs of enemies defeated, spells cast and love won and lost —
all enhanced with large screens to display images from the games as well as
close-ups of musicians.
"Audiences are very big fans of this score," says Roth, 52, music director and
principal conductor of the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. 'All these arrangements
have been done very nicely for symphony orchestra, and they really show off the
members of the orchestra. This concert is acoustic, and that's why it's such a
good vehicle for so many musicians."

A

International Following

Roth, also producer and arranger for films and CDs through his own AWR
Music, is mixing a live CD related to Final Fantasy. The work is being done in
his Chicago studio.
"I've had to train myself with the help of engineers and tech people so I can
get around in the field," Roth says. "I would urge any musician to have a good
sense of the latest developments and be able to understand a lot of different
software systems."
Roth, who has performed this concert in other cities and hopes to take it to
other countries, connected with the music through Jason Paul, the producer.
The two, who had worked together on a series of arena performances with
Luciano Pavarotti, talked about the Fantasy possibilities; and Roth decided to
try the concert with his Chicagoland Pops Orchestra earlier this year. Its popu-
larity grew after debuting in Japan.
"People come from all states and other countries to hear this concert,"
explains Roth, whose Detroit show already has drawn a ticket purchase from a
prospective audience member traveling from Shanghai. "Final Fantasy fans
revere the composer, whom I met a number of times. He came out to see the
first show that we did in Chicago; and since then, I've done two or three others

FANTASTIC 'FANTASY' on page 44

7/21

2005

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