Media Music Concert 2.0 unearths contemporary classical music in music scores of iconic films, television, and video games
Scores from The Lord of the Rings, Kingdom Hearts, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and many other pop culture classics were presented in an artistic light at the second annual Media Music Concert.
The concert was a nostalgic experience, recalling childhood memories from video games, television, and film with a live orchestra playing the iconic sounds, each accompanied by a video of the source material.
“It’s important in any medium,” says Vasilios Palantzas, music director for the concert. “Without music, a lot of that stuff would be boring.” Palantzas was co-conductor for the concert, organizing the smaller orchestra groups.
This entirely student-run event presents a vision of the direction of contemporary classical music. Music made for video games, film, and television have become a part of pop culture, and present a new way that classical music can be enjoyed.
“It’s modern-day classical music,” says Palantzas. “There are still people composing symphonies, but it’s not like it was before. The last early 20th century, stuff kind of died down. A lot of it now is for wind symphonies and concert bands. So I think this is the major supply of classical or orchestral music in film and video games.”
The concert also highlighted artistic qualities in the music from video games and film that are often overlooked.
Because the music is a part of the bigger picture, Palantzas says the artistic value can easily go unacknowledged.|
“People don’t pay attention to it as much as they should,” he says. “When you go to a movie, no one really comments on the music.”
He also says video game music and film scores, although made for the specific media, can still be enjoyed on their own.
“Media scores are created in context, which is why we have a video to go with it; sometimes you don’t really need that context, but with other ones you do,” says Palantzas. “For my piece, “Lord of the Rings: Two Towers,” the musicians need context to understand what is being played, but an audience can just listen to it.”
The concert started with a thought bubble from Isaias Garcia, the organizer behind Media Music 2.0, and president of CASA: “I want to be a film composer.”
Composing music as part of a bigger picture, for video games or movies, is one of the ways musicians stay contemporary.
Sarah Ciantar, Arts Editor
