The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) will be taking a break from Britten, Brahms and Bartók this autumn to perform music of a completely different nature.
In a concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 2 September the LPO, will be performing themes from popular video games, including Super Mario, Final Fantasy, Angry Birds and Little Big Planet.
The concert is part of the 2011 Vision Sound Festival and will be conducted by Andrew Skeet, who has also arranged the music for orchestra.
Director of the Vision Sound Festival, Andrew Missingham, said: ‘Video games from Heavenly Sword to Little Big Planet are taken to the next level by music. Music makes visuals come alive. It's high time music's essential role in all visual culture is celebrated.’
The LPO has some experience in this field, having previously recorded the music for the video game Xenosaga. An album, recorded by the orchestra, called Video Game Heroes, will be released this autumn.
The Vision Sound Festival is a three-day event looking at the relationship between audio and visual cultures in film, advertising and games.
Stella Lorenz