Music in Games

 

In the center of the Theme Day “Music in Games” on Thursday, August 23rd, are the composers Takeshi Furukawa (“The Last Guardian”), Pieter Schlosser (“Destiny 2”) and Garry Schyman (“BioShock”). All guests will talk about the characteristics of videogame scores, personal experiences and upcoming projects. They will also be available for questions from the audience. Gareth Coker (“Ori and the Blind Forest”) and Richard Jacques (“James Bond 007: Blood Stone”, “Mass Effect”), will join a round table panel discussion at the end of the day. Both have already been guests at SoundTrack_Cologne.

Takeshi Furukawa's music has accompanied some of the world's most recognizable franchises and brands: the tv series and same-titled game Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Cannes Lions-winning global campaigns for Mercedes-Benz or Apple. He won multiple awards like the Premio Drago D’Oro and the Game Audio Network Guild Award for his appointment on the PlayStation 4 title The Last Guardian. Thus, he established himself as one of the most exciting new voices in the video game industry.

Pieter Schlosser is an award-winning composer with games music credits to his name such as Gears of War 3, The Sims 3 and Transformers: The Game. For the past two years, he has been working on the score for the hugely successful sequel to the Destiny franchise. He also composed music for tv series like You, Me And The Apocalypse and The Lying Game, for which he won the ASCAP Award for Top Television Series. Pieter worked in Hans Zimmer’s studio for five years alongside Steve Jablonsky on many projects such as Desperate Housewives and Friday The 13th.

BAFTA Award-winning composer Garry Schyman has most notably given the universe of the hugely successful game series BioShock its musical identity with his award-winning scores, latest BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea. With his music for the action-adventure game Destroy All Humans! and two sequels, he paid playful homage to ‘50s sci-fi. Most recently he’s been in the fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien for the adventure game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its latest sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

Gareth Coker combines in his video games unconventional soundscapes with melodically driven themes. His music for Moon Studios’ platform game Ori and the Blind Forest was awarded with numerous awards like the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Award for Outstanding Music Composition and the SXSW Award for Excellence In Musical Score. At present he is composing music for the sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps. He also wrote the original scores for Minecraft: Egyptian Mythology, Minecraft: Norse Mythology, Minecraft: Chinese Mythology, Minecraft: Greek Mythology and ARK: Survival Evolved.

The English composer Richard Jacques was recently honored with the Game Audio Network Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award and thus belongs to an illustrious circle of composers. He is a multiple award-winning, BAFTA Award and Ivor Novello nominated composer for film, tv and video games. Best known for his critically acclaimed orchestral scores for blockbuster franchises such as James Bond 007: Blood Stone, Mass Effect and Starship Troopers, he has also worked with other artists such as Shirley Bassey and Joss Stone.