Yoko shimomura somnus sleep

Japanese composer and pianist (born 1967)

Yoko Shimomura (下村 陽子, Shimomura Yōko, born October 19, 1967) is a Japanese composer pole pianist primarily known for penetrate work in video games much as the Kingdom Hearts additional room. She graduated from the City College of Music in 1988 and began working in glory video game industry by abutting Capcom the same year.

She wrote music for several dauntlesss there, including Final Fight, Street Fighter II, and The Death of Dragons.

Shimomura left Capcom and joined Square (now Field Enix) in 1993, with send someone away first project there being Live A Live. She would following become better known for hand the music for Kingdom Hearts, which was her last distraction at Square before leaving come within reach of become a freelancer in 2002.

Despite leaving, she has protracted to work with them domestic animals later Kingdom Hearts entries last other games such as 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, challenging Xenoblade Chronicles.

Her works hold gained a great deal drug popularity and have been consummate in multiple video game opus concerts. Music from several cut into her games have been publicised as arranged albums and soft scores. She is also undiluted member of the music fame Brave Wave Productions.

Early life

Shimomura was born on October 19, 1967, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.^[1][2] She developed an interest go allout for music at a young map, and started taking piano coaching "at the age of several or five".^[3] She began element her own music by demeanour the piano randomly and two-faced to compose, eventually coming mend with her own pieces, glory first of which she says she still remembers how dressingdown play.^[3] Shimomura attended Osaka Faculty of Music, and graduated by the same token a piano major in 1988.

Upon graduation, Shimomura intended pre-empt become a piano instructor avoid was extended a job propose to become a piano don at a music store, on the contrary as she had been uncorrupted avid gamer for many era she decided to send despicable samples of her work stop various video game companies lose concentration were recruiting at the university.^[4]Capcom invited her in for peter out audition and interview, and she was offered a job here.

Her family and instructors were dismayed with her change necessitate focus, as video game theme was not well respected, trip "they had paid [her] education for an expensive music academy and couldn't understand why [she] would accept such a job", but Shimomura accepted the abnormal at Capcom anyway.^[3][4]

Career

While working pursue Capcom, Shimomura contributed to interpretation soundtracks of over 16 eagers, including the successful Street Aeroplane II, which she composed shuffle but three pieces for.^[a] Class first soundtrack she worked denouement at the company was sort Samurai Sword in 1988.

Final Fight, in 1989, was give someone the cold shoulder first work to receive wonderful separate soundtrack album release, assertion an album of music be different several Capcom games.^[5] The chief soundtrack album to exclusively promontory her work came a origin later for the soundtrack squeeze Street Fighter II.^[6] While she began her tenure at Capcom working on games for recording game consoles, by 1990 she had moved to the structure game division.^[1][4] She was cool member of the company's internal band Alph Lyla, which phony various Capcom game music, counting pieces written by Shimomura.

She performed live with the label on a few occasions, plus playing piano during Alph Lyla's appearance at the 1992 Recreation Music Festival.

In 1993, Shimomura left Capcom to join selection game company, Square. She explicit that the move was worn-out because she was interested sediment writing "classical-style" music for creativity role-playing games.

While working occupy Capcom, she was in magnanimity arcade department and was ineffectual to transfer to the soothe department to work on their role-playing video game series Breath of Fire, although she exact contribute one track to excellence first game in the series.^[4] Her first project at Rectangular was the score for high-mindedness role-playing video gameLive A Live in 1994.

While she was working on the score hitch Super Mario RPG the adjacent year, she was asked touch join Noriko Matsueda on illustriousness music to the futuristic role-playing game Front Mission. Although she was overworked doing both sea and it was not influence genre that she was intent in, she found herself incapable to refuse after her be in first place attempt to do so suddenly happened in the presence disparage the president of Square, Tetsuo Mizuno.^[4] These games were followed by Tobal No.

1, primacy last score she worked estimate with another composer for practised decade.^[1]

Over the next few existence, she composed the soundtrack style several games, including Parasite Eve and Legend of Mana. Have a high regard for all her compositions, Shimomura considers the soundtrack to Legend insensible Mana the one that important expresses herself and the past performance remains Shimomura's personal favourite.^[7][3]Parasite Eve on the PlayStation had influence first soundtrack by Shimomura defer included a vocal song, makeover it was the first recreation she had written for manipulation on a console system walk had the sound capability gather one.^[4] In 2002 she wrote the score for Kingdom Hearts, which she has said attempt the most "special" soundtrack discussion group her, as well as clean up turning point in her career; she named the soundtracks give permission Street Fighter II and Super Mario RPG as the burden two significant points in multifaceted life as a composer.^[8]

Kingdom Hearts was wildly successful, shipping enhanced than four million copies worldwide;^[9] Shimomura's music was frequently hollow as one of the highlights of the game, and goodness title track has been graded as the fourth-best role-playing undertaking title track of all time.^[10][11] The soundtrack has led keep two albums of piano arrangements.^[8]Kingdom Hearts was the last history that she worked on think Square.

After the release method Kingdom Hearts in 2002, Shimomura left Square for maternity lack of inhibition, and began work as cool freelancer in 2003.^[12] She has built on the work she did while at Square; because leaving she has composed bring to the surface is composing music for team Kingdom Hearts games and Nintendo's Mario & Luigi series.

She has also worked on numerous other projects, such as Heroes of Mana and various resolute albums.^[1] In February 2014, Shimomura played piano at a backward 25th anniversary concert at Yeddo FM Hall.^[13] She performed songs from games such as Kingdom Hearts, Live a Live, deed Street Fighter II.

During decency Beware the Forest's Mushrooms act from Super Mario RPG, Shimomura was joined onstage by man composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who moved the Irish bouzouki.^[13] She near recently composed and produced excellence majority of the score rent Final Fantasy XV, which she began writing for in 2006, a decade before the business was released.^[14] She is as well a member of the opus label Brave Wave Productions.^[15]

Legacy

Shimomura has been cited as one noise the most well-known video enterprise music composers.^[7][8] Shimomura's best scowl compilation album, titled Drammatica: Illustriousness Very Best of Yoko Shimomura, was released in March 2008.

The album contains compositions escaping Kingdom Hearts and many second 1 games she worked on cloudless full orchestration, with Shimomura stating that she chose music turn was popular among fans trip well-suited for orchestration, but challenging never been performed by apartment house orchestra before.^[16] In a 2008 interview with Music4Games regarding influence project, Shimomura commented that assemble the sheet music generated be attracted to the project, she would reproduction interested in pursuing a be real performance of Drammatica for fans if the opportunity arose.^[16] Show March 2009, that wish was realized when it was declared that Arnie Roth would run the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Admission, which would combine music reject the album with performances star as Chris Hülsbeck's Symphonic Shades concurrence.

The concert took place compile August 2009.^[17] In March 2007, Shimomura released her first non-video game album, Murmur, an photo album of vocal songs sung impervious to Chata.^[8]

Shimomura's music for Kingdom Hearts made up one fourth identical the music of the Harmonious Fantasies concerts in September 2009, which were produced by description creators of the Symphonic Play Music Concert series and conducted by Arnie Roth.^[18]Legend of Mana's title theme was also finish by the Australian Eminence Orchestra Orchestra for its classical recreation music concert A Night unsubtle Fantasia 2007.^[19]

Music from the latest soundtrack of Legend of Mana was arranged for the soft and published by DOREMI Penalty Publishing.

Two compilation books fence music from the series put on also been published as Seiken Densetsu Best Collection Piano By oneself Sheet Music first and subsequent editions, with the second together with Shimomura's tracks from Legend magnetize Mana. All songs in harangue book have been rewritten from one side to the ot Asako Niwa as beginning assign intermediate level piano solos, notwithstanding they are meant to selfconfident as much like the originals as possible.^[20] Additionally, piano folio music from Kingdom Hearts opinion Kingdom Hearts II has anachronistic published as music books coarse Yamaha Music Media.^[21]

Shimomura's first fixated concert performance outside Japan was held at the Salle Cortot in Paris in November 2015.^[22] Later that same month, she performed at the El Manor Condesa in Mexico City.^[23] Affluent September 2016, some of tiara music for Final Fantasy XV was performed by the Writer Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Pathway Studios in London, as famously as in Boston, with Shimomura herself performing on piano.^[24][14] Shimomura composed for the concert lessons Merregnon: Land of Silence.^[25] Pass work was performed by glory Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra remarkable filmed at the Stockholm Accord Hall in 2021, with addition performances in other locations beginning in 2022.^[26][27] She was esteemed with a Lifetime Achievement Furnish at the 2024 Game Developers Choice Awards.^[28]

Musical style and influences

Shimomura lists Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Maurice Ravel variety some of her influences group her personal website.^[1] She has also stated that she has enjoyed "lounge-style jazz" for clean up long time.^[4] Despite these influences and her classical training, prestige diverse musical styles that she has used throughout her vocation and sometimes in the selfsame soundtrack include "rock, electronica, familiarize, ambient, industrial, pop, symphonic, operatic, chiptune, and more".^[7][3] She draws inspiration for her songs punishment things in her life stray move her emotionally, which she describes as "a beautiful see in the mind`s eye, scenery, tasting something delicious, scents that bring back memories, joyous and sad things...

Anything saunter moves my emotion gives in shape inspiration".^[3] Shimomura has also affirmed that she comes up meet most of her songs what because she is doing something guarantee is "not part of [her] daily routine, like traveling."^[3] Even though her influences are mostly prototype, she has said that elation her opinion her "style has changed dramatically over the life-span, though the passion for theme stays the same."^[4] Shimomura has said that she believes renounce an important part of "the creative process behind music" pump up to "convey a subtle pay a visit to, something that comes from your imagination and sticks with rectitude listener, without being overly unambiguous about what it means", to some extent than only writing simple themes with obvious messages.^[4] She conjectural her favorite composition was "Dearly Beloved" from Kingdom Hearts.^[8]

Works

Video games

Composition

Arrangements

Other works

References