How to turn The Legend of Zelda into a symphony

A crowd of gamers worthy of any con packs the house in Toronto, full of cosplay and chatter. But they’re not here to see their favorite developers or actors gab on a panel.

Instead, the audience waits for an orchestra, filling the huge auditorium with what can only be described as jubilation. This is a performance of “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses Master Quest,” and it’s been more than a decade in the making.

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11 years before the show: How video games become concerts

It was only supposed to be a press event.

Square Enix hired Jason Michael Paul, a producer with music and game experience, to put together what was supposed to be a one-time show. “Dear Friends” was a presentation of music from Final Fantasy by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale, and it took place during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2004.

“It did phenomenally well,” Paul said. And that was the start of what is now a decade of collaboration on video game symphony presentations. He took “Dear Friends” on tour.

That led to more shows: “More Friends,” and then “PLAY,” which featured music from a variety of video games, and on it went. For the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, he did a show that included series composer Koji Kondo on piano.

Paul pulls from a history as varied as coordinating appearances for Luciano Pavarotti and the Three Tenors and creating press events for PlayStation.

“It’s not that difficult for me, because I have the resources and I know the people,” he said. “I know the orchestras. I know the personnel I need to speak to. Most orchestras that I work with do 100-125 performances a year. They’re very well-oiled. They’re very attracted to this type of performance.”

The games and their fans create the appeal for the musicians.

“They’re used to playing Brahms and Beethoven. This is a breath of fresh air for them,” Paul said. “They get overwhelmed by the response of the audience. You have this very astute, intelligent breed of audience: They make a lot of noise, but you can hear a pin drop when a performance is taking place. They’re getting respect from this younger audience.”

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8 months before the show: Planning for the latest Zelda concert series begins

Paul had done two previous Zelda concert series with Nintendo, so the third was not a surprise.

“I presented them with the concert that we were going to tour with. I was granted the license to do that, and I’ve been doing that ever since,” Paul said. “This is the third installment, the Master Quest installment. We’re doing more than 70 dates throughout the world. It’s an undertaking.”

In every city, he coordinates with a different symphony and choir to put on the show; the only constants are himself, his staff, and Amy Andersson, the conductor.

As with his previous productions, Paul hired everyone needed to arrange the music and film, so he could give each symphony an incredibly detailed plan to work with. It was a single-game show, which he prefers; the audience knows all of the material and responds to the production, he said.

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“It’s my job as producer to make sure they’re equipped with all the tools so they can do an amazing performance,” he said. With everything from percussion lists to stage diagrams, “There’s not a lot of thinking involved.”

The job included A-list, Hollywood composers; music directors, and scorers.

“All of the footage, all of the music, is always updated. It’s always enhanced or made better,” he said.

And sometimes, as with this production, that’s a moving target. When Nintendo rereleased Majora’s Mask on the 3DS earlier this year, the concert footage changed, and so did the music. It’s now a four-movement symphony plus a finale, with an overture and an intermezzo. It’s the first time a video game concert like this has been arranged into a complete classical symphony, Paul’s representatives said.

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The company often sells the production to a local orchestra or to other promoters like LiveNation, which puts it on and takes the proceeds. Or Paul’s company produces a “four wall” production, where they rent the venue, partner with an orchestra, and split the profits. That was the arrangement for Toronto, where the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony would collect a share of the take from the show.

“It’s a lot of fun. I’m having a great time. It’s a labor of love,” Paul said. “I’m at a point in my career where I can just have fun, and make it the best presentation it can be.”

6 months before the show: Hiring the symphony

Andrew Mellanby, associate director of operations for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, wasn’t surprised to get the call from Paul. His group is experienced at playing in at the Sony Performing Arts Centre in Toronto, which the producer had booked for the performance.

“This is similar to many pops-style concerts that we do,” he said. “More and more, orchestras are renting high-powered projectors, screens and playback equipment for their concerts. In an age where video content is everywhere, audiences want to see more than just the orchestra on stage.”

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He’s a gamer – “Right now, I’m playing a lot of Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth.” And he’s a fan of Zelda music. “It really captures the spirit of the games,” he said.

So Andrew Mellanby of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony made the arrangements with Paul, got the scores for his musicians to practice with for The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses Master Quest concert, and passed them along for the players to learn on their own.

“The musicians did not see the entire score, but we were given MP3 recordings of each piece to practice with to get a sense of how it all fits together,” cellist Chris Sharpe said. “It’s not typical to get recordings provided, but musicians are resourceful at finding recordings of unfamiliar pieces to practice with.” (“YouTube is a great resource,” Mellanby said.)

Sharpe said he looked over the music without his cello at first, to get a sense of how hard it would be to play and the style. Next up was a quick practice, looking at tempo markings and the tricky bits where he’d need to spend the most time honing his performance.

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“Musicians need to manage their practice time carefully, especially as we’re not only learning the music for this concert but also for a number of upcoming concerts,” Sharpe said. “As I practiced, I identified which pieces I would need to play along with the MP3 recordings — again, as a way to practice most efficiently. Difficult passages required the most time, starting with slow practice and working up to the performance speed.”

2 months before the show: The tour begins

Not many of Paul’s staffers travel with the actual production: Each show is typically coordinated by an organizer for the local symphony. The composer, Andersson, is one of just a few people who see every performance.

Over the course of this year, she’ll lead more than 70 productions of the symphony, spending just a few days in each city in a tour that spans more than a dozen countries.

“Our hotel on site is booked through JMP Productions. The touring team all stay there together,” Andersson said. “Steven Lemke, our technical director, and I often pair up and eat dinner or breakfast together. We talk about the technical aspects of the show, especially the orchestral rehearsals.”

A naturally active person, she finds it a challenge when flights are delayed or a long layover intrudes and she’s stuck spending a good chunk of her life in airports.

“I don’t really get to see much locally, except a good restaurant when we have a night free. It is pretty much steady hard work, and a vigorous schedule. The schedule is especially tough when shows are booked back-to-back.”

2 days before the show: The first, and only, rehearsal

The Wednesday before the performance, the orchestra and choir gathered for the first time for one three-hour rehearsal.

It may sound strange that the symphony doesn’t get more time to practice together, but these are pros, Mellanby said. It’s a little-known fact that symphony performers are often able to sight-read their music with no preparation whatsoever.

“I focus most of my energy on getting tempo transitions right, coordinating them with the (video) and then achieving musical expression,” Andersson said.

The rehearsal is mostly the time for the conductor to pass along her final thoughts on phrasing and emphasis and to make sure that transitions with the choir, which acted as almost a vocal instrument for this performance, were handled well. Other than one 20 minute sound check, it’ll be the only time everyone plays together on the symphony before the performance.

“The main objective of the rehearsal is to get clear direction from the conductor to fit our individual parts together as accurately and as musically as possible,” Sharpe said. “The conductor uses this short time to give key instructions on style and balance as well as keeping the orchestra together rhythmically.”

It’s not enough just to play one part well, Mellanby said. In addition to working with the rest of the orchestra, each musician also has to fit into the structure of the stage setup itself.

“Rehearsal time is also used to make sure all of the technical elements are working well in conjunction with what the orchestra is doing,” he said. “Lighting, projection, video playback, mics, audio playback, and even more practical physical things like chairs, music stands, stand lights, and the player’s own instruments all have to in working order and work together to make the concert a success.

“It takes a lot of planning and work ahead of the first rehearsal to make sure all those elements are going to be where they need to be, doing what they need to do, at the time they need to do it. Rehearsal is really the testing stage to make sure all the pieces fit together so that the audience gets a great experience.”

The afternoon before the show: Final setup

It might have been the day of the Zelda show, but the symphony was thinking about Star Wars. Before the Zelda performance, they were deep into another rehearsal, this one for their presentation of the Star Wars soundtrack, played live along with the film in a performance they would tackle the very next day.

In fact, Zelda was just one of five shows the group would put on in five days.

But as soon as the strains of “The Imperial March” had faded, Mellanby was on the move, getting instruments and music stands and tablets and earbuds in place onstage for the performance that night.

Andrew Mellanby made sure that just enough chairs were arranged in just the right ways, that the wires criss-crossing the stage floor were perfectly placed and functional, that the screen was calibrated and in focus, that the lights were ready and synced, and that every detail would be perfect for The Legend of Zelda symphony show.

The tablets and headphones were especially important for this performance, he said.

“This show uses a click-track system to keep the orchestra synced with the video content,” he said. “That means that many orchestra members have headphones on while they play live onstage. In their headphones, they hear a clicking sound that repeats at the tempo the music is to be played at.

“This helps to keep the music they play synced with the video content from the game. It would be terrible if Link started playing his ocarina and the orchestra wasn’t right in time with him! It makes the show more challenging, but it’s worth it to ensure it is successful.”

For the musicians, it becomes that much more important to practice before the show with a metronome, knowing that those click trackers are coming, Sharpe said.

“Most musicians make the music happen by listening intently to their colleagues, constantly adjusting to stay as perfectly in tune and in time as possible, with the conductor giving guidance on tempi and style. In this case, the click track and the conductor’s baton became the main focus. There was much less ‘give and take’ than would take place throughout a typical concert.”

1 hour before the show: The audience gathers

Even in the chilly air outside the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, it was clear this was no ordinary symphony concert.

Freelance vendors and amateur artists hawked Zelda merchandise at bargain prices as a crowd of more than a 100 crowded around the official, pricey T-shirt sellers inside the lobby.

You saw no suits and evening wear; instead, it was more like a game con, with cosplayers, people in Zelda-themed shirts and jackets and tattoos, and hordes of fans clutching their 3DSes and favorite plastic Zelda clamshells from several generations of Nintendo consoles.

The crowd in the theater was a sea made up predominantly of a familiar kelly green, illuminated by the flashes of a hundred selfies. Autumn Epple, a 23 year old from Toronto, stood in the middle of a small crowd in the lobby with her pitch-perfect Zelda costume: long blue-and-white dress, braid, her ears ending in gentle points.

She didn’t have to consider long what she wanted to cosplay for the show.

“Zelda is my favorite character, for sure, and I wanted to be a princess,” she said. “I could relate to her.”

Parents were at the performance with children, and older gamers compared notes on the first Zelda games.

“I’m a really huge fan,” said Mira Yuhnke, 12, of Buffalo, N.Y. She was dressed as Link, with a gently glowing Navi (a fairy) hanging over her shoulder. “I’ve only been to the symphony once before for a class, but it was definitely not as awesome as this.”

Inside the theater, vendors carried around trays of baseball-game-style popcorn, sending the salty, buttery smell rolling up the aisles, and the mood was festive and noisy.

Philip Marinucci, 23, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., sat with Aynsley Cunliffe, 24, of St. Catharine’s. She had given him tickets to the show for Christmas, even though neither had ever been to a symphony performance before.

She had been camping the performance website for tickets when her mother found out that Ticketmaster had quietly put them up for sale early: As a result, the couple had two of the best seats in the house, behind some of the conductor’s friends. They were quietly discussing the perils of taking a sword and shield on the subway, and Philip’s Zelda tattoos, with the other guests.

A hush didn’t descend when the house lights dimmed; instead, fans erupted in hoots and whistles.The lead violinist, the last on stage, called out to them: “All riiiiiiiiight, audience!!” They roared appreciatively back.

Conductor Amy Andersson got a rockstar welcome, the sound washing over the stage, rising to a roar again when she told them that this Legend of Zelda symphony wasn’t a normal performance — she expected them to be loud.

And then, just after 8 p.m., the bows lifted, the brass caught the stage lights, and the music began.

Zero hour: The show starts

The arrangement stitched pieces of the soundtracks of a half-dozen games into movements, and footage of those games flitted by on a giant screen over the musicians’ heads.

The compositions that got the biggest fan reactions were, ironically, the ones they were probably most sick of hearing over and over again while they played their favorite games. They cheered for the tunes that accompany Link during his treks across the oceans in Wind Waker, for example, or when he rode across the grasslands on Epona in Twilight Princess.

Every so often, the music would pause as Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, lead developer Eiji Aonuma (himself a percussionist and leader of Nintendo’s Wind Wakers brass band), and Kondo offered recorded-video insights into the scores, the games, and the night’s compositions.

It was a long performance, running over two hours, but the audience and the musicians never lost focus. Paul knows his stuff; the composers and arrangers had created a dramatic rendering with a sensitive ear for fans’ favorites.

“The music is very well composed,” Sharpe said later. “Orchestra musicians always appreciate when a composer understands the individual instruments and writes well for them, and [they] also appreciate a composer that scores the various instruments together in a very effective, cohesive way. This is something this composer excelled at. The result is that the music was very effective and impactful. It was very enjoyable to listen to and fun to play, and challenged the musicians in a very positive way.”

Andersson conducted as a tablet scrolled through the music in front of her, each measure popping visually with the beat as it kept time with the video screen behind her players’ heads and in their headsets, making what might be the world’s most complex rhythm game.

Four-fifths of the way through, the projection screen showed nothing but a closeup of some of the musicians, but fans were rapt, some watching with lips parted, every face turned toward the stage.

Their standing ovation at the end was near-instant and rattled the rafters.

One day after the show: The next concert begins

Almost before the performance had ended, Andersson and the rest of the Zelda crew were already on their way to the next show. Performances run through the end of the year across the United States and abroad.

“By the time we strike the stage after a performance and get back to the hotel, it is often aftermidnight,” she said. “Then it is get up at 5:30 a.m., eat breakfast, pack and drive to the airport at 7. We would have an early flight, check into the hotel and then go directly to the venue to set up the stage, rehearse and then have a performance that [next] night.”

The orchestra mentally took off their pointed green hats and moved on to Stormtrooper helmets. But the Zelda show made an impression on the performers.

Sharpe isn’t a gamer, but he said he sure appreciated them after the show.

“It was clear that many in the audience do not attend traditional orchestra concerts, but that made it all the more interesting for us,” he said. “Someone in the audience shouted ‘This is so cool!’ at the beginning of the concert, and the screams that came from the audience at the beginning and end of the concert showed an unusual high-energy group of listeners, who really got into the whole experience.

“It was a blast for the musicians to feel the energy from the packed concert hall. It was clear that the audience was uniformly appreciating what they were hearing, and felt what we were trying to portray as we performed. That’s all that any musician can ask for.”

Mellanby hoped that the Zelda show might pique those gamers’ curiosity about the symphony in general.

“This show brought out a lot of people whom likely have never been to an orchestra concert before. There were way more Zelda fans there than there were orchestra fans, if that makes sense,” he said. “Hopefully, by doing more concerts like this, we can create more crossover between Zelda fans and orchestra fans.”

They have a convert in Cunliffe.

“That was a pretty damned good present,” she said after the show. “I don’t know if I can ever top this. I don’t think I will.”