Krakow Film Music Festival: Video Games Music Gala

Programme:

Jesper Kyd – Assassin’s Creed 2 / Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Jesper Kyd – Hitman 2: Silent Assassin / Hitman: Blood Money

Austin Wintory – Journey

Austin Wintory – Assasin’s Creed Syndicate

Michael Giacchino – Medal of Honor

Dan Licht – Silent Hill Suite

Christopher Drake – Batman: Arkham Villains Suite

Christopher Drake – Batman: Arkham Origins Suite

Piotr Musiał, Marcin Przybyłowicz i Mikołaj Stroiński – The Witcher 3 Suite

Eímear Noone – World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor: Malach, Angel Messenger

Richard Jacques – Headhunter Concert Suite

Richard Jacques – James Bond 007: Blood Stone: Athens Harbour Chase

Elliot Goldenthal – Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Ania Karwan – voice

Pro Musica Mundi Choir

Beethoven Academy Orchestra

Ludwig Wicki — conductor

Music from video games makes its way to concert halls increasingly often. After the great success of the concert with music from The Witcher 3, the main FMF gala in the TAURON Arena Kraków in 2018 will be devoted to the music composed for the top game titles of recent years. With the Video Games Music Gala we will invite our audience to enter a new reality. FMF Reality is a festival reality, a magic and fable-like world of film music, it is a story that engrosses entirely and awakens unforgettable emotions.

The history of the first composer invited to perform at the gala has a tinge of American dream. At the dawn of his career, Michael Giacchino, who was then unknown to wider audiences, composed music for the game Medal of Honor. He could not expect that the world famous director J.J. Abrams, who was currently working on a new TV drama Lost, would be a fan of the game. Delighted with the music in his favourite game, J.J. Abrams contacted Giacchino and opened the door to the world of grand Hollywood productions for him. The fruits of their cooperation include Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek. The gala will feature a suite comprised of music from Medal of Honor, for which Michael Giacchino, quite understandably, feels deep sentiment.

Danish composer Jesper Kyd will also honour us with his presence on that day. We will listen to his most famous themes from the games Hitman and Assassin’s Creed at the concert. Not only gamers will be delighted by the appearance of Austin Wintory. The game Journey is an extraordinary production, in which no words are used and music becomes the only mean of communication. Wintory’s Grammy-nominated soundtrack will be presented in a specially arranged version at our concert for the Krakow audience.

Christopher Drake will also make an appearance at the gala, bringing along another superhero – Batman. Audiences at the concert can therefore expect some daring music, which will be specially tailored for the night from the games Batman: Arkham Origins and Injustice I & II.

While listening to the latest works, we remember the artists who once performed at the FMF and who are no longer with us. A suite from the game Silent Hill: Downpour will be played in remembrance of Daniel Licht.

Not only video games fans will be glad to learn that the friend of Krakow and Oscar winning composer Elliot Goldenthal will write a suite specially for the concert. His Grand Gothic Suite written several years ago for the FMF was given a standing ovation for the first time in the festival’s history in the middle of a concert. Final Fantasy is a Japanese saga in which subsequent games and films form a narrative whole. The composition to be presented by Goldenthal is inspired by his soundtrack for the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

The Video Games Music Gala will feature a suite from The Witcher 3 – a special version of the suite was premiered during this year’s FIMUCITÉ Festival in Tenerife. Marcin Przybyłowicz, composer and musical director of CD PROJEKT RED, was a guest at the festival. After the warm welcome in Tenerife, this incredible piece will make its way to TAURON Arena Kraków for the upcoming edition of FMF. Solo parts will be performed by Ania Karwan, who is well-known to the festival audience, and other notable guests at the gala will include the suite composers: Piotr Musiał, Marcin Przybyłowicz and Mikołaj Stroiński. CD PROJEKT RED studio will also receive the statuette of FMF Ambassador 2018 during the Video Games Music Gala.

The effects of combining the worlds of films and games will be rendered on the stage of the TAURON Arena Kraków by soloists, Pro Musica Mundi choir, and the Beethoven Academy Orchestra under the baton of the indispensable Ludwig Wicki.