Video-game music gets a classical treatment

For fans of Japanese pop culture, animation and video games, this weekend may be one of the most exciting to come along in recent memory.

In one corner is the 13th annual edition of Kawaii Kon, the three-day anime convention that thousands of fans have flocked to year after year. In the other is Video Games Live, a concert featuring orchestrally performed music from various video games that is making its first stop in Honolulu since it launched in 2002.

Standing at the crossroads of the two events is Chris Suzuki, founder, director and arranger of Hitbox Music Ensemble, a local orchestral group and chorus that specializes in playing music from video games, anime and sci-fi/fantasy franchises.

Hitbox members will be part of the chorus singing at the Video Games Live shows with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra today and Saturday.

Then on Sunday the full Hitbox ensemble will give a concert from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m. in Kawaii Kon’s main events auditorium.

For Suzuki, Hitbox represents the blending of his passions: video games, musical composition and arrangement.

“The video-game music genre has been really fascinating,” Suzuki said. “With the advent of traveling productions such as Video Games Live and “Symphony of the Goddesses” (dedicated to the ‘Legend of Zelda’ video game franchise) and Distant Worlds (dedicated to the ‘Final Fantasy’ franchise), it hit me that, oh wow, video game music is an emerging genre. And it’s gravitating toward the classical genre, which is what I was trained to do and what I specialize in, and what I consider myself to be good at.”

In high school suzuki taught himself basic music theory and learned how to play the piano with the help of his church’s pianist. he went on to study at the university of hawaii at hilo, then uh-manoa, graduating with a degree in music composition.

These days he’s someone who’s just as comfortable talking about his favorite works by Igor Stravinsky as he is about the work of “Final Fantasy” series composer Nobuo Uematsu. He can detect how the throbbing beat at the beginning of Uematsu’s “One-Winged Angel,” a theme that’s most commonly associated with the longhaired, pretty-boy antagonist of “Final Fantasy VII,” Sephiroth, was influenced by elements of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” He can dress in concert formalwear, but he’s also not afraid to throw on a Zelda T-shirt from time to time in rehearsals.

One of Suzuki’s favorite games growing up was “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” Originally released in 1998 on the Nintendo 64, the game was the first in the Zelda series’ history to feature 3-D graphics and music that sounded like it was being played by a synthesized orchestra. In this game, one of the items that series hero Link gets on his quest to save Princess Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule is an ocarina, which he plays to solve puzzles and reveal hidden treasures. The player uses the controller as a rudimentary instrument in these instances, each button representing a different note in Link’s songs.

It was a mechanism that appealed to Suzuki both as a game-player and a musician.

“Even though it’s very basic, you’re making a connection to the pitches and patterns,” Suzuki said. “You have to memorize them in a sequence, and you have to know what song does what. And I thought that was a unique way of integrating music with the mechanics of that game.”

The music of “Ocarina of Time” provided part of the foundation for ‘The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses,” a concert series that, like Video Games Live, travels worldwide, spotlighting music from the “Zelda” games as footage from the games is displayed on a giant screen. The series touched down in Honolulu for the first time in January 2015.

Suzuki was part of the chorus contracted for that concert. He had seen it performed on the mainland; he never thought it would come to Hawaii, much less that he would be a part of it. Getting to meet people like concert producer Jason Michael Paul and conductor Amy Andersson was “a real eye-opening, very memorable experience,” Suzuki said.

That experience inspired him to form a video game ensemble. Hitbox has since performed in two public shows: Comic Con Honolulu in June and — in a case where the inspiration went full circle — as a pre-show performance in front of the Blaisdell Concert Hall for the return of “Symphony of the Goddesses” to Honolulu earlier this year.

This weekend’s shows present another set of environments for the musicians.

Kawaii Kon, like Comic Con Honolulu, will shine a spotlight on the performers and their music. For the convention, the Hitbox performance adds a unique element to the weekend’s schedule.

“I think Hitbox performing at Kawaii Kon is a great way to make orchestral performances accessible to anime fans that maybe hadn’t realized they would enjoy it,” said Courtney Ahmed, Kawaii Kon’s events director. “A lot of times when people think stringed instruments and choirs, they think of something more stuffy and serious, but Hitbox’s performances may introduce anime fans into a world they may have missed.”

Performing at a convention does present its share of challenges. The acoustics aren’t as finely tuned as in a concert hall, and the audience is more casual. But Suzuki tries his best to ensure his musicians are equipped to deal with the situations that might arise.

And sometimes the convention setting allows for a more intimate connection with the audience.

“I was hanging out with one of my singers who performed at (Comic Con Honolulu), and she doesn’t know video-game music,” Suzuki said. “She took a liking to it, too. And she was telling me … she saw when she looked into the audience, as soon as they heard their favorite themes, the people light up in their eyes, their eyes perk up. And then they go ahead and listen. And she found that very profound, how music connects with people.”

Video Games Live, by contrast, will be in a format similar to that of the “Symphony of the Goddesses” concerts, featuring a full orchestra and chorus with projected imagery in the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

But while Symphony of the Goddesses was performed with a relatively traditional, classical arrangement, Suzuki said, Video Games Live will have more of a high-energy, rock-concert feel to it. The show’s founder and host, Tommy Tallarico, is a guitar player — and one related to Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, at that.

“Especially with the selections, there’s a lot of moments of musical drama, a lot of expression in it, a lot of beauty along with … intensity,” Suzuki said. “In ‘Zelda’ you never really got that. It’s because the music just was not written that way, whereas with these games it’s meant to be really driving and dramatic.”

Regardless of venue, the nostalgia factor resonates for Suzuki.

“I mean, that’s why you’re going to these video-game concerts in the first place,” he said. “It’s because you relive your nostalgia and your favorite memories of that game.”