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Eminence Symphony Orchestra

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The Eminence Symphony Orchestra in Sydney, Australia was founded in 2003 by Hiroaki Yura. The orchestra's vision is to inject something bold, dynamic and fresh into classical music. Eminence wishes to break down the barriers between the audience and the musicians, and to revive orchestra in today's society; particularly amongst youth.

Contents

Concerts

A Night in Fantasia

Eminence's debut concert was held on the 31st of October and the 1st of November of 2003: A Night in Fantasia. It was born because something like it had never been done before in Australia. The first of a series of concerts performing music from Final Fantasy and Studio Ghibli films took place at Sydney Congress Hall and sold out well before the night. This proved a point to organisers - the concept could work and there was enthusiastic support for concerts of popular culture music in Australia. At this point the company running the concert was 'Infinity 8LUE', and the orchestra was the 'Infinity 8LUE Symphony Orchestra'.

Sakura Snow

On the 10th of July, 2004, Infinity 8LUE presented two sessions of a J-pop concert at Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Entitled Sakura Snow, the concert featured FUYUKA and Jun Mochizuki, who performed music from various artists, including those of Utada Hikaru, MISIA, Dreams Come True, Glay (band), Yuichiro (TOKIO), Chage & Aska and The Boom.

A Night in Fantasia 2004

In 2004, the orchestra was fully formed, and held A Night in Fantasia 2004 at Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on the 30th & 31st of October. William Motzing became the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu was a guest of honour at all four performances. This concert marked the name change for the orchestra, as they became known as the Eminence Symphony Orchestra. Infinity 8LUE was the company behind the concert, and shortly after finalised the name change by becoming Eminence.

Piano Stories

Alexey Yemtsov performed the first Piano Stories concert on the 15th of April, at Verbrugghen Hall. Featuring work from Studio Ghibli, Yoko Kanno and Shiro Sagisu, Piano Stories started a series of concerts which proved to be highly successful.

World of John Williams

2005 saw Eminence present the World of John Williams concert, held on the 8th of July at Sydney Town Hall. Featuring music from one of Hollywood's most recognised composers, John Williams, his work from Harry Potter, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Home Alone and Raiders of the Lost Ark was performed.

Piano Stories II

In the same year Piano Stories II was held at Verbrugghen Hall with Stuart Wright performing pieces from various popular culture video games and anime including Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, Hoshi no Koe, Macross Plus, and Noir. The Eminence Quartet also appeared on the night. The concert was held on the 6th of August at Verbrugghen Hall.

Destiny: The Dream Time Ensemble

Later on in 2005 Eminence presented Destiny: The Dream Time Ensemble. Held at Verbrugghen Hall and the National Theatre, This marked the debut of a performance outside of Sydney, as the city of Melbourne in Australia witnessed the 9 member elite chamber music ensemble group perform music from a variety of composers. These included Joe Hisaishi, Nobuo Uematsu, Michiru Oshima, Shiro Sagisu and Toshihiko Sahashi. The concert also marked the first time Eminence utilised footage from the original films, games and television serials in alongside the music. The members of Destiny are: Hiroaki Yura (Violin) Ayako Ishikawa (Violin) Christian Boennelykke (Viola) Kenichi Mizushima (Violoncello) Hanae Seto (Clarinet) James Fortune (Flute) Joshua Hill (Percussion) Chiron Meller (Percussion) and Jem Harding (Piano).

A Night in Fantasia 2005

A Night in Fantasia 2005 saw an large change in venue, this time to be held at the Sydney Town Hall. Philip Chu became Chief Conductor and the night's music programme also saw fresh changes (thanks to AV Director, Jacky Fan who acted as musical advisor and partly co produced the concert) with the inclusion of many popular anime and video game titles. Kingdom Hearts, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Onimusha, Halo (video game series), Fruits Basket, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Tsubasa Chronicle, Gran Turismo (video game), InuYasha, Naruto, [[Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War]] and Rurouni Kenshin. The event wrote history by hosting the World Premiere of the World of Warcraft Suite, and again saw the use of footage from the original titles alongside the music.

Piano Stories III

In 2006 Eminence brought the next chapter in the concert series Piano Stories. Featuring acclaimed pianist Alexey Yemtsov the night highlighted Studio Ghibli and Final Fantasy pieces. Special guest violinists Hiroaki Yura and Ayako Ishikawa were present, and it was held on the 15th of April in Melbourne's National Theatre and on the 22nd of April in Sydney's Verbrugghen Hall.

Spirited Away with Youmi

This concert was designed to run alongside A Night in Fantasia 2006, Spirited Away with Youmi was held on the same day as Melbourne's concert and also took place on the 6th of July in Sydney. Youmi Kimura performed songs from Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and My Neighbour Totoro among others.

A Night in Fantasia 2006

A Night in Fantasia 2006 was held on the 2nd of July in Melbourne Town Hall and on the 7th of July in Sydney Town Hall. The concert featured music from Final Fantasy and Studio Ghibli, and also welcomed special guest Youmi Kimura, the composer of both the Oscar Award Winning Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle (film)'s ending themes. It also featured Hiroaki Yura on violin and Phillip Chu as conductor. The concert also premiered music from Final Fantasy XII and was the world's first symphonic concert to be accompanied by footage from Studio Ghibli films.

A Night in Fantasia 2007

A Night in Fantasia 2007 is already in planning and production as of April 2006.

Albums

Eminence has released the following albums from their concerts:
  1. Morning in the Slag Ravine (Laputa - The Castle in the Sky)
  2. Laputa (Laputa - The Castle in the Sky)
  3. Carrying You (Laputa - The Castle in the Sky)
  4. Approaching Night (Spirited Away)
  5. The Boy of the Dragons (Spirited Away)
  6. Opening (Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind)
  7. The Man of Bird (Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind)
  8. The Sepia Coloured Photo (Porco Rosso)
  9. Time for Old Memories (Porco Rosso)
  10. Dog Fight (Porco Rosso)
  11. On a Sunny Day (Kiki's Delivery Service)
  12. On Your Mark (On Your Mark)
  13. Cloud's Theme (Final Fantasy VII)
  14. Melodies of Life (Final Fantasy IX)
  15. Aeris' Theme (Final Fantasy VII)
  16. Fragments of Memories (Final Fantasy VIII)
  17. Eyes on Me (Final Fantasy VIII)
  18. Scene I (Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite)
  • The Great Legend (Laputa - The Castle in the Sky)
  • Sophie's Tomorrow (Howl's Moving Castle)
  • Secret Garden (Howl's Moving Castle)
  • Cave of Mind (Howl's Moving Castle)
  • I'm so Glad (My Neighbour Totoro)
  • Legend of Ashitaka (Princess Mononoke)
  • Journey to the West (Princess Mononoke)
  • World of the Dead (Princess Mononoke)
  • The Boy of the Dragon (Spirited Away)
  • The River from that Day (Spirited Away)
  • One Summer's Day (Spirited Away)
  • Tifa's Theme (Final Fantasy VII)
  • 素敵だね (Final Fantasy X)
  • Aeris' Theme (Final Fantasy VII)
  • From the Cave's Nightmare (Final Fantasy X-2)
  • Ending Theme (Final Fantasy X)
  • Melodies of Life (Final Fantasy IX)
  • The Wind of Life (Piano Stories 4)
  • Vamo'alla Flamenco (Final Fantasy IX)
  • Those who Fight (Final Fantasy VII)
  • Eyes on Me (Final Fantasy VIII)
  • Ami (Final Fantasy VIII)
  • Ashitaka & San (Princess Mononoke)
  • Two Hearts Not Captured (Final Fantasy IX)

    • Current Staff

    Eminence Productions

    Founding Director: Hiroaki Yura
    Finance Manager: Minsi Guo
    Legal Advisor: Michael Camilleri
    Marketing: Mimi Qin & Nikki Stoupe
    Public Relations: Alex Williams
    SEAC: Billy Tjajadi
    Executive Assistant: Belinda Mai
    Music Transcriptions and Arrangements: Nicole Brady & Jackson Harrison

    Eminence Design Studio

    Design Manager: Suri Junin
    Designers: Tyrone Jandey
    Photographers:

    Audio Visual Department

    Department Director: Jacky Fan
    Technician & Engineer: Anthony Fok
    Backstage Operations: Kathryn Valier-D’Abate (Melbourne)
    Camera Operations Manager: Sarah Hanson
    Camera Operators: Visual Artist Production Manager: Demetri Potiris
    Visual Artists:

    Information Technology

    IT Manager: Danny Ma
    Web Developers: Emmet Rogan, Rebecca Park, Michael Tran

    Sydney Eminence Division

    Head of Sydney Operations: Justin Yem
    Ticketing Co-ordinator: Steven Zhu
    Human Resources Manager: Robert Shi
    Sydney Eminence Volunteer Crew:

    Melbourne Eminence Division

    Head of Melbourne Operations: Ricky Prout
    Ticketing Co-ordinator: Astrid Emilia
    Ticketing Assistant: Katherine Ryan
    Human Resources Manager: Simon Xu
    Melbourne Eminence Volunteer Crew:

    External links

     

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