Game music has become a genre in its own right in the past decades. It plays a crucial role in immersing players in virtual worlds, whether close or far from reality. But who are the composers behind some of the best video game scores? Film Fest Gent, which has had a special focus on film music since the 80s, wants to bring those composers out of the shadows. With fewer and fewer composers making a distinction between writing music for movies and for video games, it's only right to acknowledge the artistic value of the genre. The best way to do that? Let the music speak for itself, of course. The festival's annual symphonic concert was therefore entirely dedicated to video game music.
Both host and one of the guests is Austin Wintory, whose music was performed live by Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Dirk Brossé. Wintory is world-renowned for his scores for the games Journey, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Abzû and Flow. His music for Journey made history as the first and only video game score to receive a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Besides music written by Austin Wintory, there were a lot of other video game scores on the concert's playlist, including music from God of War Ragnarök, Hearthstone, Medal of Honor ... PRESS PLAY: Music in Games is not-to-be-missed opportunity for music lovers and gamers to experience an underrated music genre in the best way possible.
Line-up
Medal of Honor (Michael Giacchino)
L.A. Noire (Andrew Hale)
Celeste (Lena Raine)
God of War Ragnarök (Bear McCreary)
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (Gordy Haab, Stephen Barton)
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Borislav Slavov)
The Legend of Zelda (Koji Kondo)
Final Fantasy VII (Nobuo Uematsu)
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (Jessica Curry)
Hearthstone (Peter McConnell)
The Last of Us (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (Austin Wintory)
Journey (Austin Wintory)
Abzû (Austin Wintory)
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök (Stephanie Economou)