page_title: Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert
section_title: Shows
hierarchical_section_title: Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert / Concerts / Shows
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne and the FILMharmonic Choir performing Symphonic Shades at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz.
context_page_description: Symphonic Shades: Hülsbeck in Concert was a symphonic tribute concert held twice in Cologne, Germany on 23 August 2008 featuring video game music. The concert was held in honor of the German-born video-game composer Chris Hülsbeck, and featured orchestral arrangements exclusively based on Hülsbeck's works throughout his 22-year-long career. The concert was produced and directed by Thomas Böcker, with the majority of arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen, and with contributions by Japanese video-game composers Yuzo Koshiro, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, and additional assistance from Adam Klemens.
  The concert was performed by The WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne and the FILMharmonic Choir under conduction from Arnie Roth, with guest performers Rony Barrak and Jari Salmela joining the orchestra at numerous occasions throughout the night. Symphonic Shades became the very first video game orchestra concert in history to be broadcast live on radio.
  Symphonic Shades marked the beginning of a series of concerts held in principally at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, and would spawn 3 direct successor concerts, as well as branch out into numerous side shows.
context_section_description: The two concerts were held back to back on August 23, 2008. The first performance took place at 20:00 and the second at 23:00 local time at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz in downtown Cologne. Both concerts were preceded by a Meet and Greet session with the guest of honor Chris Hülsbeck, Yuzo Koshiro and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. The concert featured 14 titles selected from Chris Hülsbeck's library of titles throughout his career, including his most famous works The Great Giana Sisters, Turrican II: The Final Fight, as well as lesser known works from the short movie soundtrack Licht am Ende des Tunnels and the original concert composition Karawane der Elefanten. Arrangements ranged from many different styles, having influences of jazz, big band, cinema, concertos and experimental electronic soundscapes combined with the orchestra. The Finnish pianist Jari Salmela took the stage twice, first during a solo piano performance for Turrican 3 - Payment Day, and a second time accompanied by the orchestra for the finale, Turrican II. Rony Barrak provided Darbuka percussion for the Tunnel B1 suite.
  Most of the arrangements featured a grand bombastic sound due to Hülsbeck's strong influence from classic science fiction films and fiction. Mitsuyoshi wrote lyrics in Japanese for the choir accompanied with strong brass sections in his Apidya arrangement, wanting to make his arrangement very emotionally effective. Koshiro arranged his given material in an impressionist classical style similar to 19th century Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner, reminiscent of his previous work in Actraiser. Several unique elements were used to create a rich sound, some by using an emulated C64 backing track recorded by Hülsbeck himself for Symphonic Shades piece, while Gem'X made use of ceramic cups. Hülsbeck noted that the original composition Karawane der Elefanten came to be while he experimented with oriental gamut and Egyptian melodies, and began to imagine elephants walking through the desert.
  During certain intervals, German moderator Matthias Opdenhövel would inform the audience on the background and origin for the upcoming pieces to be performed, as well as provide commentary on Hülsbeck's illustrious career. Like Symphonic Game Music Concerts before it, Symphonic Shades made minimal use of stage show elements, opting not to make use of video screens or other forms of imagery. A small amount of light production was used to create atmosphere in the concert hall. Each concert ran at approx 80 minutes. The event marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert, broadcast on the WDR4 station. Despite being a German production based on a German composer, the concert had attendees from Japan, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
caption: The WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne and the FILMharmonic Choir performing Symphonic Shades
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