Encore! Orchestra Victoria has returned with a stunning new selection of indie game music to follow-up the 2023 performance. Indie Symphony 2 sees the event format return, with a new program of stunning indie games being showcased by the ensemble. Returning to Hamer Hall, the event champions the soundtracks of beloved indie games of all sizes for 2 nights this time around!
Back in 2023, Indie Symphony showcased Orchestra Victoria’s talents with a strong line-up of classic and new indie game music including Hollow Knight, Stray Gods, Journey and Transistor to name a few.
While the first iteration was only on for one night, Indie Symphony 2 is running two shows on July 3 and 4. Austin Wintory will also be returning for Indie Symphony 2, with ABZÛ and Hades II amongst the line-up. There’s also a guest appearance from Montaigne – their performing the Baldur’s Gate 3 section along with the Concordia Chamber Choir who also perform parts on Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Hades II, and ABZÛ.
Dan Golding, composer for Untitled Goose Game also made a special guest appearance, playing the iconic “honk” in a playful take on the performance.
Featured Games for Indie Symphony 2:
- Slay the Spire (Mega Crit, Claud Aboud)
- Darkest Dungeon (Red Hook Studios, Stuart Chatwood)
- Chants of Senaar (Focus Entertainment, Thomas Brunet)
- Untitled Goose Game (House House, Daniel Golding)
- Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room, Jessica Curry)
- UNDERTALE (Toby Fox)
- Hades II (Supergiant Games, Darren Korb & Austin Wintory)
- ABZÛ (Giant Squid, Austin Wintory)
- Cult of the Lamb (a special tribute to composer Narayna Johnson)
- Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian, Borislav Slavov)
Having attended the first night of the performance, I did wonder if I’d enjoy this one less than the first since I was wasn’t as familiar with some of the games this time around. I can however say that despite lacking that familiarity with some of the program, it did hold strong. The surprise of ABZÛ and Chants of Senaar in particular was enough to make me wish I’d properly experienced these games prior. This is something I’ll be making right as soon as possible.
The standout for me was the Cult of the Lamb performance. As a tribute to Narayna Johnson, it felt like a special homage to just how talented he will forever be. While it does for the most part have that upbeat culty energy, in the later half theres a quieter section that pulls at the feels. If you’re a fan of River Boy’s music in Cult Of the Lamb then this rendition will make the entire show worth your time.
The UNDERTALE section as well was a welcome surprise. As someone who’s tried to get into the game, I’d never quite been able to appreciate the music but this section of the performance was one of the more playful – with a visual showing off moments from the games bullet hell moments it’s hard not to feel swept up in this – UNDERTALE fan or not.
Montaigne as well knocks it out of the park with their vocals in the Baldur’s Gate 3 finale of the performance. And yes, the bear does appear in the accompanying visual! Raphael’s Final Act as a closer with how it builds to his character with an awe inspiring duet across orchestral music is magic. If you’re a Baldur’s Gate 3 fan then you don’t want to miss this!
If you have doubts about attending an entire orchestral performance of indie game music, say if you aren’t familiar with all the tracks then I can’t heartily recommend attending more. There is plenty to appreciate from the entire program, and you might even walk away with a new game you’re eager to experience!
Not only is it an awesome event celebrating one of the most integeral parts of the games we hold dear but there’s a powerful through line here that eagerly pulls you in. Even if you aren’t able to make it, definitely use this as an excuse to seek out game music, especially orchestral renditions of those stunning tracks!
Interview with Indie Symphony Host Meena Shamaly
Returning to lead the performance again is the one and only Meena Shamaly. Through their work with ABC Classic, they spotlight game music weekly, sharing iconic soundtracks from across the biggest and smallest games. Meena also is a composer himself, with experience as a poet and lecturer as well. Meena presented the first Indie Symphony performance with his signature charm as he welcomes the audience in for a night of indie game music appreciation.
How did the Indie Symphony performance originally come about?
Indie Symphony is an idea that originated within Orchestra Victoria, particularly from Elise Lerpiniere. She’s the Artistic Planning and Engagement Manager over at Orchestra Victoria. The first inkling I had of it was when I heard that something was happening in 2022. Austin Wintory was in town, and he invited me to the recording sessions for Stray Gods. I could only make one of those days, but he was there recording with them for a week at the Alan Eaton Studios in St Kilda. I was supposed to be touring with a theatre company for a play in which I was performing. And that was the one week we were in Melbourne. So, all the stars aligned.
That’s where I meet everyone from Orchestra Victoria. They were performing on the score, and Elise was basically wrangling everything. We get to chatting, and she says, ‘We’re working on some things with video game music. Several months later, sometime in 2023, they reach out, saying, ‘Hey, Meena, we’re doing an Indie Symphony!’ ‘Would you like to host it?’ I’m like, “what? Amazing!”
I was also talking to Elise during that time when Stray Gods was being released, and I knew that Orchestra Victoria was involved. She said, “We’re basically saying that we’re open for business for video games”, and that means whether it’s in the capacity of recording and performing on video game scores, with Stray Gods being the first one. Imagine your first game score as an orchestra goes on to be nominated for a Grammy.
What goes into curating a live performance of video game music, such as Indie Symphony 2?
You first need to decide on the repertoire for the performance. Which games should be represented, and why these games? Why not other games? And in the case of something like Indie Symphony, the through line is indie games, which can be a lot of things.
Once you’ve worked out that part. The next question is, will the orchestra be able to play it? How? Who else should we have to bring in for a performance like this? Sometimes, for example, Indie Symphony one needed a person playing the harp. They didn’t have a full-time harp player. That was a contractor or freelancer who was brought in for the concert. And a lot of orchestras are like this. They’ll bring in certain players as the arrangement requires.
If the piece of music is electronic, as was the case with Celeste, how does that translate to the orchestra? You typically have an arranger or orchestrator, who is usually the same person, to translate the music into an orchestral score, depending on the ensemble you have.
Then, there’s the conductor. In the case of Orchestra Victoria, they collaborate with Vanessa Scammell on multiple projects. And then, when you have a guest artist coming, like Austin Wintory, he will conduct some of his own stuff. Austin came and he conducted Journey. He asks permission. You then have to think about the hosting, do you reach out to someone like Meena? Or do we let the conductor present it? Because everything is a game of budget, time, and scheduling rehearsals.
Contrary to popular belief, the number of rehearsals for an orchestral concert isn’t actually that many. It may be up to four sessions. And that first session, the orchestra and the conductor are usually reading the music for the very first time with
Another factor to consider is licensing. Do you have the license from the owner of the music and the rights of performance? Most indie devs are happy if they own the music or if the composer owns the music. But then, do they license? For instance, if they have their own arrangements, would the composer license them? If the music of the game and its performance is the property of a big publisher, for example, which is not the case for indie symphony, obviously. Does the Publisher then own it and then control how it’s dispersed into the world?
The other thing is, when you’re bringing in those other players, if they’re going to be amplified, how is that going to play? How are you going to think of the acoustics in the venue, and then you’ve got to think of visuals. Are you going to use visuals? Because that’s a whole other licensing headache. Yeah. So lots of moving parts.
Why are events like Indie Symphony that focus on other elements of games so important?
I think music is unique, whether it’s for a video game, for a film, or for a TV show – it’s the part of the experience that you can take away from the screen. While even sound effects and acting are still kind of entwined with the experience of the story, the music can exist in an abstract manner. And it’s the part that you might walk away remembering or humming, even. If you hear the music for a game you’ve played, then the music will likely transport you back there. If you haven’t played the game, you can still enjoy the music as a standalone piece.
From my experience, presenting video game music on classical radio means a lot of my audience isn’t actually gamers. There is an audience of gamers, but a lot of my listeners are people who have never interacted with video games in their lives, and they’ve come to discover the engaging beauty of video game music. They’ve found that they don’t actually have to engage with the original medium. It’s the same thing with film music. I simultaneously kind of fell in love with video game music and film music kind of all at the same time. There’s a 2005 movie called Lord of War with Nicolas Cage. I have never seen that movie, but I have worn out that soundtrack, or, you know, theoretically, virtually worn out that soundtrack.
And I think that’s the unique thing about music. So, when you experience it live on stage, not only do you have a relationship to the performance, but if you have no connection to the game, you will still have a connection to the performance. And the experience of many people is that they’ve walked away from video games still thinking about the music they love, and even before playing the game, they can still fall in love with the music.
There’s definitely been a rise in game-themed performances. Why do you think that is?
The cynical answer is that it makes money, but I will back that up. I have observed that when an orchestra performs classical repertoire, it can attract a sizable audience, but it’s not necessarily as full as it could be. Some are, some aren’t. When they do a film concert, the attendance increases. It increases enough that a symphonic orchestra that can breeze through classical repertoire will still have many film and now game concerts on the calendar.
This ties into the connection between the classical canon and contemporary music, as well as the role music plays in culture, then and now. I’m gonna bring it back to history. Many classical pieces have sacred origins, being written for the church. That’s where the money was. For the people of the time, the church was a significant presence in their lives as well.
The most prominent composers of the day didn’t necessarily confine themselves to writing concert music. They wrote for operas and plays. And because of those things that were popular at the time, they had their own audience, and the music of those things became its secondary audience.
Another notable difference is that, especially in the late 90s and early 2000s, a game soundtrack album wasn’t nearly as widespread as it is now. And I remember in the early 2000s, I was trying to get my hands on albums through iTunes, and not a lot was around. I remember going to Sanity or JB Hi-Fi, and I’d head to the soundtrack section only to still find nothing. There are several film scores here. Where are the video games? Even the film scores weren’t as widespread as they could have been. There are now more ways to access music than ever before. Apart from the games, it has an audience beyond the original work.
Anyone paying attention to who works in or runs an orchestra is likely to notice that people enjoy music from films, and they are buying albums of film scores or re-recording them so that others can purchase and listen to them separately from the film.
So you see a rise in orchestral performances of film music. And I don’t know exactly when it flipped. I think platforms like Bandcamp have helped indie soundtracks become more widespread, more easily accessible, and now more widely streamed as well. Almost every major game and indie game, including those played by only three people, has a streaming release.
So yes, it’s really a smart business move to ask “What do people want, and how can we make it for them?” Hopefully, those in the orchestra are also passionate about their music. At Orchestra Victoria, under Elise’s leadership, they are. Indie Symphony 1 was a one-night event. Now, Indie Symphony 2 has two nights. The first sold out, so the trust is there now.
We can’t live on love alone. But if you can have both love and money – if you’re playing music you love, and getting paid to do so, then that’s the dream. For some musicians, they’ll just do the job regardless, and that’s professionalism. But it’s powerful when the ensemble genuinely loves video game music and chooses to play it because of that.
So, as the presenter, is it challenging to lead the show through some of those, like, emotional video game performances?
No, because the music speaks for itself. I’m the hype man. My role is to tap into the audience’s love of games and contextualise it for those who haven’t played them. It’s kind of very similar to my role on the radio. Half the time, I haven’t played the games myself either, so I need to contextualise it for myself and the audience.
For example, Baldur’s Gate is on the list this year. If you have never played Dungeons and Dragons or Baldur’s Gate 3, what is your relationship gonna be with Raphael’s final act? Do you need to have a relationship with the game at all to understand it? It’s like, imagine you are fighting the devil. Not the devil, but you know what I mean? Imagine you’re fighting the Dungeons and Dragons equivalent of Lucifer, and in this case, it’s not Lucifer from the TV show. This is like the ultimate evil, the ultimate charming evil. So, your opponent is the most charismatic person who is intent on your destruction.
With scores from films and games, you can approach it two ways. Are you expressing the emotion with the music, or are you setting up an audible space for the audience to step into and then feel how they feel? I’m just setting up this big space for you and inviting you in. The musicians are going to do their thing, and they’re going to be amazing. And when you see the charismatic devil on the screen, you’ll at least have an idea who that is.
I try to find a way, as much of an abstract way of saying things, one that can connect with everyone and doesn’t alienate anyone. The whole point is I’m inviting you in as much as possible. If I went into the thing and was like, if you don’t play video games, none of this will mean anything to you. Now instantly, like, created an animosity, and it’s just like, well, what do you mean? I really enjoyed it. And I don’t play video games. My role is to welcome you home. I’m here to get to, you know, serve the tea. The orchestra will do the conversation.
If there is an Indie Symphony 3 – What’s your dream lineup?
Oh, God, don’t do this! Well, here’s the thing. Indie Symphony 1 was already a dream line-up because of Journey. It has a very personal kind of connection for me because when my wife and I first connected properly, we connected over Journey, and then it was our first dance at our wedding. So I’ve already had that and I’m happy to have it again.
When you’ve had music from like Hades and Stray Gods – I was so excited about Stray Gods and Hollow Knight. And like Necrobarista. I’m so passionate about Indie Games from Australia. There will also be a Cult of the Lamb tribute for Narayan Johnson in Indie Symphony 2 this year. Already, there was an Orchestra Victoria performance back at PAX 2023 with Narayan that was everything. It’s been such a dream line-up already, honestly.
This is a testament, I’d say, to the fact that Indie Symphony 1 and 2 have already captured such a breadth of indie games, which makes it difficult to follow up on that. I’d like to see Michael Allen’s score from Sol Infernum in particular – that deserves some love. It was so amazing, and Michael has been around the block for a long time.
Meena Shamaly’s brief score wishlist for future Indie Symphony style events:
- Solium Infernum
- Anything Austin Wintory
- Slay The Spire
- Anything Super Giant
- Unpacking
- Florence
- So Let Us Melt
- Tales of Kenzera: Zau
- Anything by Hazelight
- Dear Esther
- Anything from Sam Barlow’s games
- Pentiment
Indie Symphony 2’s final show is on tonight, Friday 4at Hamer Hall. Tickets are still available here. Adelaide will also be hosting their own riff on the format in August. You can find all the details on that here!
