Not Too Distant from the Fantasy

On 22 and 23 May 2009, Victoria Chorale, together with Vocal Consort and Wild Empire, had the rare opportunity to participate in the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy – a concert organized in conjunction with the Singapore Arts Festival 2009.

Under the baton of Grammy-award winning conductor, Arnie Roth, the music from Square Enix’s world-renowned Final Fantasy video game series came alive.

Evelyn Chen, a twenty-one year old musician, said, “I can really feel the enthusiasm. Among the hushed whispers of thrill, I heard FF (Final Fantasy) fans gushing about how they felt like they were being transported back to their videogame playing moments.”

The audience was not alone in their adoration for Final Fantasy. Backstage, many of our choir members clamoured for the attention of the man behind the stirring music of the Final Fantasy series.

Said Chloe Fair, a Victoria Chorale chorister who is also a fan of the Final Fantasy series video game, “This is like a dream come true!”.

Even though the choristers have had their fair share of standing ovations and cheers during their own performances, they found the response from the audience very intriguing and overwhelming.

Dawn Yin, a soprano from Victoria Chorale, recalled, “The audience was, wow, amazing. There was this man who would lead the rest of the audience and shout “Nobou Uematsu-Sensei” whenever the composer made his appearance.”.

Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the concert happened right before the encore piece was performed, when Nobou Uematsu joined Arnie Roth, the Festival Orchestra and the Chorus on stage. Adorned in his quirky attire that included a Western bandana and Japanese slippers – a tell-tale trait of a man who is at the crossroads of quixotism and tradition – he greeted the audience and spoke of his love for Singaporean cuisines in almost impeccable Mandarin.

The shouts for an encore performance were relentless and uplifting. Arnie Roth, the charismatic maestro said teasingly to the raudience members, “Earlier in the day, Nobou told me that he feels like singing today…”.

Almost instinctively, the audience, which was made up of members from different parts of the world, exclaimed in unison, “One-Winged Angel!”.

Nobou Uematsu, in an endearing fashion, scampered off to join our bass section in belting out his very own composition, bobbing along to the music as he sang.

The passion that was reignited during the concert reached a climax then. The choristers, feeling the energy radiating from the audience of over 2000 people, sang their best to recreate the legendary battle scene from Final Fantasy 7.

“That was,” said Jianhao, the president of Victoria Chorale, “a mind-blowing experience for all of us. Teaming up with the other two choirs made it even more memorable. We are definitely looking forward to more opportunities for collaboration in the near future.”

The two-day performance might have ended but the excitement from the audience and the performers alike were still very much palpable beyond the confines of the Esplanade Concert Hall.

We do not need a Nobou Uematsu-like mind to infer that the passion for Final Fantasy lives on.

For more information on Distant Worlds – Music from Final Fantasy:
http://ffdistantworlds.com

For more information on Singapore Arts Festival 2009:
www.singaporeartsfest.com/

For more the information on Nobou Uematsu:
http://blog.smileplease.co.jp/
http://www.nobueuematsu.com/bio.html

For more information on Arnie Roth:
http://www.awrmusic.com/index.pho

For more information on Vocal Consort:
http://thevocalconsort.org.sg/

For more information on Wild Empire:
http://www.wildempiresingers.org/index.html