Greetings, Warriors of Light and Music Enthusiasts!

Last Sunday we went live on Twitch with the EORZEAN SYMPHONY Preview Live Stream - Journey to the West- . The EORZEAN SYMPHONY will soon be traveling west after its successful debut in Japan in 2017, with the following dates:

Friday, June 15 and Saturday June 16, 2018
Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, CA

This event will take place at the Dolby Theatre, right next to the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Friday, August 24 and Saturday, August 25, 2018
Konzerthaus Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany

This European venue is a full-scale concert hall designed specifically for enjoying raw sound!

Alexandra Cravero will be the conductor of the Western concert performances.

She is well versed in jazz and pop, in addition to classical music, with experience in film music and orchestra performance!

And of course, Susan Calloway will be at both events performing Answers and Dragonsong!

Now in case you missed it, allow me to be your guide through Yoshida's first visit to the NA data center while streaming!

Yoshi-P was joined by Sound Director Masayoshi Soken and English Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox as the translator for this exciting event to promote the Los Angeles performance. The trio seemed to have a lot of fun!

The idea behind this stream was that both Yoshi-P and Soken would visit the Famfrit World on Yoshida's event character, challening content with music that will be played in the EORZEAN SYMPHONY with players on the Primal data center. After experiencing the content and music in-game, they would show clips of the orchestral versions as they were played at the Japanese performances. If you've never heard the orchestral versions of the track, they're rather magical!

Before broadcasting though, they had to set up their UI in English.

During the broadcast, Koji also presented questions from viewers for both Yoshida and Soken, such as "What's it like to have your music performed by a live orchestra?", to which Soken replied that he's always working so closely with the orchestra and performers, that he's not sure. He'd love to just sit in the audience sometime in the future so that he could really experience it!

Yoshida also revealed the set list for the concert in two parts: A Realm Reborn and Heavensward:

There were many memorable moments on this stream, including watching Yoshida take to the skies of Dravania with a ton of Famfrit players trailing behind on various mounts. Many thanks to the Famfrit community for being so hospitable!

My personal favorite moment on-stream was when Yoshida asked the community for their ideas on what to name the orchestra for the upcoming Los Angeles performances. We saw some very creative suggestions in Twitch chat, here were the top four that the team chose from:

I'm still chuckling about Hydaelyn's Hamstrings... and that adorable illustration of Soken, Yoshida and Koji.

Ultimately it came down to Soken and Yoshida's votes, so the Los Angeles EORZEAN SYMPHONY orchestra will be named... The Seventh Astral Orchestra! Very cool!

Another big thank you to everyone who came out to Famfrit to participate in this event. It was a unique opportunity for Yoshida to have the chance to play with the North American community and enjoy some incredible music.

Tickets are still on sale for both Los Angeles and Dortmund, so be sure to buy yours today! Check out the special site for full details.

Bonus Shots!

Naturally, Yoshida and Soken had to take some screenshots of their adventures.

Syrcus Tower, where Yoshida (constantly) asked "why doesn't anybody use the ready check??"

What's a symphony without Rise of the White Raven? The Second Coil of Bahamut, Turn 4 turned out to be a bit of a challenge, especially since all the content was played synced! It had been awhile...

Soken healed for Akh Afah Amphitheatre!

Yoshida seemed a little nervous for this one when Koji insisted that they'd have to take on the Knights of the Round Extreme mode instead of normal! But they one shot it, great work! (And Koji kindly pointed out that Yoshi-P was the only one who died that run.)

That's all for now! Be sure to check out the video if you missed the livestream for some gorgeous music and a video message from Susan Calloway:

We hope to see you soon at the EORZEAN SYMPHONY!

Until next time,

- Luxpheras
Community Team