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Thomas Böcker

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Thomas Böcker
Thomas Böcker in 2010
Born (1977-10-08) October 8, 1977 (age 47)
Dohna, Saxony,
Germany
Occupation(s)Producer, Artistic Director
Years active1999—Present

Thomas Böcker (born October 8, 1977)[1] is a German producer.[2][3] He is the founder of Merregnon Studios and artistic director of his orchestral music projects Merregnon and Game Concerts.

In 2003, he produced the first live orchestra performance of video game music outside Japan at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig,[4] Germany, which led to his international series Game Concerts,[5][6][7] including the Final Symphony world tour from 2013, the first live performance of video game music by the London Symphony Orchestra,[8][9] and from 2021 the symphonic fairy tale Merregnon: Land of Silence, premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.[10] The latest production in the series, Merregnon: Heart of Ice, was first performed by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in 2024.[11]

Thomas Böcker was presented with the national Cultural and Creative Pilots Award by the German Federal Government, which recognises outstanding entrepreneurs within Germany’s cultural and creative industries.[12][13]

Early life

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Thomas Böcker grew up in the small mountain town of Lauenstein in East Germany.[14] During the 80s, his father was allowed to travel to the western part of Germany to visit his own mother and brought back a Commodore 64 for the family. For this reason, Böcker already had access to a home computer at the age of 7.[3] Soon enough, he developed a passion for video game music and became especially fond of Chris Huelsbeck’s works on the Turrican series.[15] Böcker's love of video game and classical music would soon come together, as he realised the potential for scores and concerts to feature orchestral game music.[16]

Concert productions

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Game Concerts in Leipzig (2003 - 2007)

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Main article: Game Concerts

On August 20, 2003 Thomas Böcker produced his first Game Concert as a part of the official opening ceremony of the Leipzig Games Convention, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, promoted by the Leipzig Trade Fair.[17] Following the success of the event, further four annual concerts with various programmes took place under his direction until 2007, performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague. A large number of composers took part in the events and the associated autograph sessions, including Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro, Chris Huelsbeck, Rob Hubbard and Allister Brimble.[7]

Game Concerts in Cologne (2008 - 2012)

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Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert in honour of German composer Chris Hülsbeck was the first of five annual concerts by the WDR Funkhausorchester dedicated to music from video games. It took place twice at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz in Cologne on 23 August 2008, for which Böcker worked as producer, as he did for the subsequent projects. Symphonic Shades was the first concert with game music to be broadcast live on the radio on WDR4.[18] An album release of the recording was made in the same year (via synSONIQ Records).[19]

Symphonic Fantasies – Music from Square Enix was dedicated to music by the Japanese game developer Square Enix. The performance on 12 September 2009, like the following WDR performances, took place at the Kölner Philharmonie. It was broadcast live on the radio on WDR4 and was the first concert of the genre to be streamed online as a live video.[20] In 2012, five more concerts were performed in Tokyo, Stockholm and again in Cologne, and in 2016 additionally at the Barbican Centre in London with the London Symphony Orchestra. Albums have been released of concert recordings from both Cologne (via Decca Records)[21] and Tokyo (via X5Music/Merregnon Records).[22]

Symphonic Legends – Music from Nintendo took place on 23 September 2010, focusing on video game music by the Japanese game developer Nintendo.[23] The performance LEGENDS on 1 June 2011, presented by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall, was partly based on arrangements from Symphonic Legends.[24] On 13 July 2014, the London Symphony Orchestra performed the symphonic poem to The Legend of Zelda from this programme.[25]

Symphonic Odysseys — Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu was a tribute to the Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu. The programme was performed twice by the WDR Funkhausorchester on 9 July 2011. There were also performances in June 2017 by the London Symphony Orchestra: on 18 June at the Philharmonie de Paris and on 20 June at the Barbican Centre.[26][27] A recording of the concerts in Cologne was released as a double album by Dog Ear Records.[28]

Game Concerts worldwide (from 2013)

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Final Symphony is a concert production by Thomas Böcker that includes music from Final Fantasy VI, VII and X.[29] The world premiere was performed by the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal on 11 May 2013, with a further concert on 30 May 2013 with the London Symphony Orchestra.[30][31] The programme subsequently toured the world with performances in Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, the USA, New Zealand, China, Austria, Australia, Poland and Canada. A Final Symphony studio album was released in 2015, a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.[32]

The world premiere of Final Symphony II, featuring music from Final Fantasy V, VIII, IX and XIII, took place on 29 August 2015 at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany, performed by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, followed by four performances in September and October 2015 by the London Symphony Orchestra in London, Osaka and twice in Yokohama.[33][34][35] In addition to events in Germany, the UK and Japan, Final Symphony II was also presented in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.[36] A studio album of Final Symphony II was released in 2023, recorded with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall.[37]

Symphonic Memories – Music from Square Enix, featuring video game music from Japanese game developer Square Enix, was premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 9 June 2018.[38][39] Other events took place in Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Germany and France. The concerts in Japan were recorded and released as a double album by Square Enix's music label.[40]

In 2021, for the tenth anniversary of Bethesda Softworks' action role-playing game Skyrim, Böcker produced a concert film featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices at Alexandra Palace in London. The video was released on YouTube on 11 November 2021,[41] shortly followed by a music album.[42] Böcker produced another concert film in September 2023, again for Bethesda Softworks, for the action role-playing game Starfield, which had just been released at the time. The recording took place with the London Symphony Orchestra at LSO St Luke's. The video was published on YouTube on 13 September 2023.[43]

Merregnon: Land of Silence (from 2021)

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Main article: Merregnon

Merregnon: Land of Silence is a symphonic fairy tale with music composed by Yoko Shimomura. It was produced by Thomas Böcker to introduce young people and families to orchestral music in the tradition of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, with modern means adopting a game and anime aesthetic.[44] The work was premiered and filmed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall in June 2021. On 10 September of the same year, the video was published on the orchestra's website.[45] From 2022 onwards, worldwide performances took place with orchestras such as the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne,[46] the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra,[47] the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz[48] and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.[49]

Merregnon: Heart of Ice (from 2024)

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Main article: Merregnon

Merregnon: Heart of Ice follows the idea of its predecessor, Merregnon: Land of Silence, to convey the beauty of orchestral music as a symphonic fairy tale,[50] composed by Nobuo Uematsu. With this project he wrote his first orchestral concert work. In an interview with ZEIT, Nobuo Uematsu confirmed that he would no longer compose music for entire video games in the future, and would instead focus on other projects that he loves, such as Merregnon: Heart of Ice.[11] Merregnon: Heart of Ice was premiered by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz at the BASF Feierabendhaus on 29 February 2024.[51] The next performance is scheduled for 25 June 2026 at the Philharmonie de Paris, with the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France.[52]

Recordings

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Since 2000, Thomas Böcker has produced a number of commercially released albums and concert films, primarily associated with his orchestral game music projects. Merregnon – Soundtrack Volume 1 (2000, synSONIQ) was a concept album combining orchestral and synthesised music by several game composers, and marked his first commercial production.[53] Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert (2008, synSONIQ) documented the first of the Cologne Game Concerts performances,[19] followed by Symphonic Fantasies – music from Square Enix (2010, Decca).[21]

The London Symphony Orchestra recording Final Symphony (2015, Merregnon Records) was produced at Abbey Road Studios.[54][55] Merregnon: Land of Silence (2021), a concert film featuring the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, was released on the Konserthuset Play streaming platform.[45] Subsequent projects include the Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert (2021),[41] recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices, and Final Symphony II (2023, Merregnon Records), featuring the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.[37]

Awards

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Thomas Böcker was recognised with the national Cultural and Creative Pilots Award by the German Federal Government in 2015.[12] That same year, Guinness World Records listed him as the first producer to stage a dedicated video game concert outside Japan.[4]

His productions have received multiple Annual Game Music Awards, including Best Arranged Album for Final Symphony (2015),[56] Best Album - Official Arranged Album for Symphonic Memories (2020),[57] and Outstanding Production – Concert for the London premiere of Final Symphony (2013).[58] In 2011, Symphonic Odysseys was named Best Live Concert at the Original Sound Version Awards.[59]

References

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  1. ^ "Thomas Böcker - VGMdb". vgmdb.net. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  2. ^ Böcker, Thomas; Fritsch, Melanie; Summers, Tim (2021), Fritsch, Melanie; Summers, Tim (eds.), "Producing Game Music Concerts", The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music, Cambridge Companions to Music, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 424–432, ISBN 978-1-108-47302-6, retrieved 2025-04-13
  3. ^ a b Ombler, Mat. "Video Games Inspire a Generation of Classical Music Fans". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  4. ^ a b "First live videogame concert outside of Japan". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 2024-12-12. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  5. ^ Mirapaul, Matthew (2004-05-10). "Video Fantasy Replaces Mozart (But Who's Keeping Score?)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  6. ^ Hanssen, Frederik (2010-11-20). "Von der Konsole auf den Konzertflügel". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  7. ^ a b "Sound Byte: Symphonic Game Music Concerts". GameSpot. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  8. ^ "Final Symphony | Barbican Concerts | London Symphony Orchestra". web.archive.org. 2013-06-17. Archived from the original on 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  9. ^ Tony (2013-05-28). "Final Symphony London: Web-Chat mit Nobuo Uematsu • JPGAMES.DE". JPGAMES.DE (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  10. ^ "Chopin und Super Mario waren meine Helden". FAZ.NET (in German). 2021-09-10. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  11. ^ a b Kılıç, Sinem (2024-02-25). "Nobuo Uematsu: "Das war die einzige Arbeit, die mir angeboten wurde!"". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  12. ^ a b Dresden (2015-12-02). "Bundesregierung zeichnet Dresdner Kreative aus". www.dresden.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  13. ^ "MERREGNON STUDIOS / SPIELEMUSIKKONZERTE". Kultur- und Kreativpiloten (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  14. ^ sebastian (2010-09-29). "Apropos Kreativwirtschaft Dresden: Thomas Böcker". mittelstern* (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  15. ^ Luibl, Jörg (2022-05-27). "Auf einen Whisky 029: Im Gespräch mit Thomas Böcker". Spielvertiefung (in German). Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  16. ^ Chris Greening (April 2007). "Thomas Boecker Interview: The Symphonic Game Music Concerts". Game Music Online. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  17. ^ "The Making Of The First Symphonic Game Music Concert In Europe". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  18. ^ "Symphonic Shades". Polyneux (in German). 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  19. ^ a b Chris Hülsbeck - Symphonic Shades (in German), 2008-12-17, retrieved 2025-04-18
  20. ^ Dragon, Legend of (2009-09-11). "Symphonic Fantasies im Livestream [Update] - CetraConnection" (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  21. ^ a b WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln - Symphonic Fantasies (in German), 2021-02-10, retrieved 2025-04-18
  22. ^ Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra - Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo (in German), 2012, retrieved 2025-04-18
  23. ^ "Symphonic Legends Music from Nintendo". Nintendo of Europe GmbH (in German). Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  24. ^ "Thomas Boecker Interview: The Music of Legends and Odysseys". VGMO -Video Game Music Online-. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  25. ^ "Symphonic Legends: Das London Symphony Orchestra spielt Zelda". 4Players (in German). 12 December 2013. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  26. ^ "Symphonic Odysseys | Philharmonie de Paris". philharmoniedeparis.fr. 2017-06-18. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  27. ^ "Symphonic Odysseys". Original Sound Version. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  28. ^ WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln - Symphonic Odysseys (Tribute To Nobuo Uematsu) (in German), 2011, retrieved 2025-04-18
  29. ^ "Thomas Boecker Interview: The Final Symphony". VGMO -Video Game Music Online-. 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  30. ^ "animePRO.de - Final Symphony 2013 - Uraufführung in der Historischen Stadthalle Wuppertal". www.animepro.de. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  31. ^ "Final Symphony: Music From Final Fantasy". Opus 3 Artists. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  32. ^ London Symphony Orchestra - Final Symphony - Music From Final Fantasy VI, VII And X (in German), 2015, retrieved 2025-04-18
  33. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2015-03-19). "Final Symphony concert returns to London with music from FF5, 8, 9 and 13". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  34. ^ "KAJIMOTO | CONCERTS | LSO Final Symphony II". archive.kajimotomusic.com. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  35. ^ "KAJIMOTO | CONCERTS | LSO Final Symphony II". archive.kajimotomusic.com. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  36. ^ "Final Symphony creator Thomas Böcker on why Osaka concert is a "triumph for all music" | Side One". 2016-03-28. Archived from the original on 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  37. ^ a b Donaldson, Alex. "The music of Final Fantasy V, VIII, IX, and XIII gets the red carpet treatment in an incredible new orchestral arrangement album | RPG Site". www.rpgsite.net. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  38. ^ LTD, SQUARE ENIX CO. "Symphonic Memories music from SQUARE ENIX". www.jp.square-enix.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  39. ^ Tony (2018-02-28). "Symphonic Memories feiert im Juni seine Premiere • JPGAMES.DE". JPGAMES.DE (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  40. ^ "SYMPHONIC MEMORIES CONCERT - MUSIC FROM SQUARE ENIX". Square Enix Store | North America. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  41. ^ a b Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert - Full Performance (Video 2021) - Full cast & crew - IMDb. Retrieved 2025-04-15 – via www.imdb.com.
  42. ^ The London Symphony Orchestra - Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert (in German), 2021, retrieved 2025-04-18
  43. ^ Starfield - A Night with the London Symphony Orchestra (Video 2023) - Full cast & crew - IMDb. Retrieved 2025-04-15 – via www.imdb.com.
  44. ^ "The power of video game music to inspire audiences - old and new". Gramophone. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  45. ^ a b Tony (2021-09-11). "Den symphonischen Anime Merregnon: Land of Silence könnt ihr jetzt kostenlos sehen • JPGAMES.DE". JPGAMES.DE (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  46. ^ "Découverte n°1". Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne - OCL (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  47. ^ "Merregnon: Land of Silence | HK Phil". www.hkphil.org. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  48. ^ www.mir.de, m i r media-Digital Agency-. "Merregnon: Land of Silence". Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  49. ^ "Merregnon". Opus 3 Artists. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  50. ^ "Merregnon: Heart of Ice – Weltpremiere mit Final-Fantasy-Legende Nobuo Uematsu". Eurogamer.de (in German). 2023-11-27. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  51. ^ Nickel, Thomas (2024-02-16). "Merregnon: Heart of Ice – Nobuo Uematsu Konzert in Ludwigshafen | MANIAC.de". www.maniac.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  52. ^ "Symphonic Selections | Philharmonie de Paris". philharmoniedeparis.fr. 2026-06-25. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  53. ^ Merregnon soundtrack. 1, S.l.: Merregnon Development Team, 2001, retrieved 2025-04-18
  54. ^ "The Classic FM Chart - 8 March 2015, 5pm". Classic FM. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  55. ^ "FINAL SYMPHONY". Official Charts. 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  56. ^ "Annual Game Music Awards 2015 – Albums of the Year". Game Music Online. February 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  57. ^ "Annual Game Music Awards 2020 – Albums of the Year". Game Music Online. March 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  58. ^ "Annual Game Music Awards 2013 :: Organisations of the Year". Game Music Online. April 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  59. ^ "3rd Annual OSVOSTOTY 2011 Awards: Winners and Runners-Up Announced". Original Sound Version. February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
[edit]
  • Thomas Böcker's official website, [1]
  • Game Concerts website, [2]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Böcker&oldid=1288494967"