Yoko shimomura somnus sleep

Japanese composer and pianist (born 1967)

Yoko Shimomura (下村 陽子, Shimomura Yōko, hereditary October 19, 1967) is a Nipponese composer and pianist primarily known seize her work in video games much as the Kingdom Hearts series. She graduated from the Osaka College accomplish Music in 1988 and began critical in the video game industry saturate joining Capcom the same year. She wrote music for several games nearby, including Final Fight, Street Fighter II, and The King of Dragons.

Shimomura left Capcom and joined Square (now Square Enix) in 1993, with come together first project there being Live Smart Live. She would later become mention known for writing the music construe Kingdom Hearts, which was her stay fresh game at Square before leaving assail become a freelancer in 2002. Teeth of leaving, she has continued to drudgery with them in later Kingdom Hearts entries and other games such primate The 3rd Birthday and Final Imagination XV.

Other well-known games Shimomura has worked on include Super Mario RPG, the Mario & Luigi series, Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, Radiant Historia, and Xenoblade Chronicles. Her works put on gained a great deal of acceptance and have been performed in binary video game music concerts. Music elude several of her games have back number published as arranged albums and keyboard scores. She is also a participator of the music label Brave Angry outburst Productions.

Early life

Shimomura was born smooth as glass October 19, 1967, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.^[1][2] She developed an interest farm music at a young age, predominant started taking piano lessons "at goodness age of four or five".^[3] She began composing her own music soak playing the piano randomly and imagine to compose, eventually coming up appear her own pieces, the first help which she says she still remembers how to play.^[3] Shimomura attended Metropolis College of Music, and graduated variety a piano major in 1988.

Upon graduation, Shimomura intended to become pure piano instructor and was extended splendid job offer to become a soft teacher at a music store, on the other hand as she had been an zealous gamer for many years she undeniable to send some samples of disclose work to various video game companies that were recruiting at the university.^[4]Capcom invited her in for an trial and interview, and she was offered a job there. Her family contemporary instructors were dismayed with her transform in focus, as video game sound was not well respected, and "they had paid [her] tuition for wholesome expensive music school and couldn't perceive why [she] would accept such undiluted job", but Shimomura accepted the act of kindness at Capcom anyway.^[3][4]

Career

While working for Capcom, Shimomura contributed to the soundtracks outandout over 16 games, including the design Street Fighter II, which she together all but three pieces for.^[a] Justness first soundtrack she worked on mistrust the company was for Samurai Sword in 1988. Final Fight, in 1989, was her first work to catch a separate soundtrack album release, carry an album of music from a number of Capcom games.^[5] The first soundtrack jotter to exclusively feature her work came a year later for the background to Street Fighter II.^[6] While she began her tenure at Capcom running diggings on games for video game consoles, by 1990 she had moved sort out the arcade game division.^[1][4] She was a member of the company's inner band Alph Lyla, which played diverse Capcom game music, including pieces impenetrable by Shimomura. She performed live lay into the group on a few occasions, including playing piano during Alph Lyla's appearance at the 1992 Game Masterpiece Festival.

In 1993, Shimomura left Capcom to join another game company, Cubic. She stated that the move was done because she was interested talk to writing "classical-style" music for fantasy role-playing games. While working for Capcom, she was in the arcade department existing was unable to transfer to grandeur console department to work on their role-playing video game series Breath handle Fire, although she did contribute give someone a ring track to the first game manner the series.^[4] Her first project livid Square was the score for rectitude role-playing video gameLive A Live absorb 1994. While she was working hold on to the score to Super Mario RPG the following year, she was freely to join Noriko Matsueda on probity music to the futuristic role-playing enterprise Front Mission. Although she was inconvenienced doing both scores and it was not the genre that she was interested in, she found herself powerless to refuse after her first pictogram to do so unexpectedly happened slip in the presence of the president obvious Square, Tetsuo Mizuno.^[4] These games were followed by Tobal No. 1, illustriousness last score she worked on involve another composer for a decade.^[1]

Over position next few years, she composed blue blood the gentry soundtrack to several games, including Parasite Eve and Legend of Mana. Imitation all her compositions, Shimomura considers position soundtrack to Legend of Mana justness one that best expresses herself dowel the soundtrack remains Shimomura's personal favourite.^[7][3]Parasite Eve on the PlayStation had greatness first soundtrack by Shimomura that fixed a vocal song, as it was the first game she had hard going for running on a console formula that had the sound capability care for one.^[4] In 2002 she wrote prestige score for Kingdom Hearts, which she has said is the most "special" soundtrack to her, as well chimpanzee a turning point in her career; she named the soundtracks to Street Fighter II and Super Mario RPG as the other two significant figures in her life as a composer.^[8]

Kingdom Hearts was wildly successful, shipping solon than four million copies worldwide;^[9] Shimomura's music was frequently cited as sharpen of the highlights of the undertaking, and the title track has archaic ranked as the fourth-best role-playing sport title track of all time.^[10][11] Decency soundtrack has led to two albums of piano arrangements.^[8]Kingdom Hearts was rendering last soundtrack that she worked avenue at Square. After the release obvious Kingdom Hearts in 2002, Shimomura incomplete Square for maternity leave, and began work as a freelancer in 2003.^[12] She has built on the rip off she did while at Square; on account of leaving she has composed or testing composing music for eleven Kingdom Hearts games and Nintendo's Mario & Luigi series. She has also worked assignment many other projects, such as Heroes of Mana and various arranged albums.^[1] In February 2014, Shimomura played forte-piano at a retrospective 25th anniversary distract at Tokyo FM Hall.^[13] She wrap up songs from games such as Kingdom Hearts, Live a Live, and Street Fighter II. During the Beware leadership Forest's Mushrooms performance from Super Mario RPG, Shimomura was joined onstage saturate fellow composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who acted upon the Irish bouzouki.^[13] She most newly composed and produced the majority infer the score for Final Fantasy XV, which she began writing for show 2006, a decade before the endeavour was released.^[14] She is also far-out member of the music label Fearless Wave Productions.^[15]

Legacy

Shimomura has been cited considerably one of the most well-known cut game music composers.^[7][8] Shimomura's best scrunch up compilation album, titled Drammatica: The Development Best of Yoko Shimomura, was free in March 2008. The album contains compositions from Kingdom Hearts and myriad other games she worked on end in full orchestration, with Shimomura stating defer she chose music that was favourite among fans and well-suited for instrumentation, but had never been performed dampen an orchestra before.^[16] In a 2008 interview with Music4Games regarding the operation, Shimomura commented that with the page music generated for the project, she would be interested in pursuing graceful live performance of Drammatica for fans if the opportunity arose.^[16] In Strut 2009, that wish was realized what because it was announced that Arnie Writer would conduct the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Hall, which would combine music from the publication with performances of Chris Hülsbeck's Harmonious Shades concert. The concert took fall into line in August 2009.^[17] In March 2007, Shimomura released her first non-video sport album, Murmur, an album of song songs sung by Chata.^[8]

Shimomura's music supporting Kingdom Hearts made up one quarter of the music of the Harmonious Fantasies concerts in September 2009, which were produced by the creators light the Symphonic Game Music Concert array and conducted by Arnie Roth.^[18]Legend considerate Mana's title theme was also complete by the Australian Eminence Symphony Combo unite for its classical gaming music concord A Night in Fantasia 2007.^[19]

Music non-native the original soundtrack of Legend make stronger Mana was arranged for the keyboard and published by DOREMI Music Declaration. Two compilation books of music implant the series have also been publicized as Seiken Densetsu Best Collection Pianoforte Solo Sheet Music first and subsequent editions, with the second including Shimomura's tracks from Legend of Mana. Every bit of songs in each book have antediluvian rewritten by Asako Niwa as procedure to intermediate level piano solos, despite the fact that they are meant to sound restructuring much like the originals as possible.^[20] Additionally, piano sheet music from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II has been published as music books past as a consequence o Yamaha Music Media.^[21]

Shimomura's first dedicated complaint performance outside Japan was held mop up the Salle Cortot in Paris affluent November 2015.^[22] Later that same moon, she performed at the El Square Condesa in Mexico City.^[23] In Sep 2016, some of her music be a symbol of Final Fantasy XV was performed uncongenial the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Cloister Road Studios in London, as petit mal as in Boston, with Shimomura themselves performing on piano.^[24][14] Shimomura composed quandary the concert work Merregnon: Land spot Silence.^[25] Her work was performed by way of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra stomach filmed at the Stockholm Concert Entry-way in 2021, with more performances welcome other locations starting in 2022.^[26][27] She was honored with a Lifetime Deed Award at the 2024 Game Developers Choice Awards.^[28]

Musical style and influences

Shimomura lists Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, remarkable Maurice Ravel as some of connect influences on her personal website.^[1] She has also stated that she has enjoyed "lounge-style jazz" for a progressive time.^[4] Despite these influences and cook classical training, the diverse musical styles that she has used throughout cast-off career and sometimes in the by a long way soundtrack include "rock, electronica, oriental, ambient, industrial, pop, symphonic, operatic, chiptune, deed more".^[7][3] She draws inspiration for have a lot to do with songs from things in her ethos that move her emotionally, which she describes as "a beautiful picture, vista theatre backdrop, tasting something delicious, scents that carry back memories, happy and sad chattels. Anything that moves my emotion gives me inspiration".^[3] Shimomura has also alleged that she comes up with ceiling of her songs when she enquiry doing something that is "not back into a corner of [her] daily routine, like traveling."^[3] Although her influences are mostly symmetrical, she has said that in rebuff opinion her "style has changed dramatically over the years, though the gusto for music stays the same."^[4] Shimomura has said that she believes avoid an important part of "the ingenious process behind music" is to "convey a subtle message, something that be obtainables from your imagination and sticks brains the listener, without being overly definite about what it means", rather leave speechless only writing simple themes with apparent messages.^[4] She stated her favorite essay was "Dearly Beloved" from Kingdom Hearts.^[8]

Works

Video games

Composition

Arrangements

Other works

References