Thomas Böcker (born October 8, 1977) is a German producer and director. He is the founder of Merregnon Studios and is best known for his orchestral Merregnon and Game Concerts series.

In 2003 he produced the first live orchestra performance of video game music outside *an at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, which, following its success, resulted in the international Game Concerts series and comprises all of Böcker's game music concert productions up to the present day. From 2013 he produced the world tour Final Symphony, marking the first performance of video game music by the London Symphony Orchestra, recorded a year later with the same orchestra at Abbey Road Studios for an album release, and from 2021 the tour Merregnon: Land of Silence, premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, an original symphonic fairy tale created to convey the beauty of orchestral sound to families.

Thomas Böcker was presented with the national Cultural and Creative Pilots Award by the German Federal Government, which recognises outstanding entrepreneurs within Germany’s cultural and creative industries.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Concert productions
  • 2.1 Symphonic Game Music Concerts
  • 2.2 Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert
  • 2.3 Symphonic Fantasies — Music from Square Enix
  • 2.4 Symphonic Legends — Music from Nintendo
  • 2.5 Symphonic Odysseys — Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu
  • 2.6 Final Symphony — Music from Final Fantasy
  • 2.7 Final Symphony II — Music from Final Fantasy
  • 2.8 Symphonic Memories — Music from Square Enix
  • 2.9 Merregnon: Land of Silence
  • 2.10 Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert
• 3 Orchestra recordings
• 4 Concerts
• 5 Consultation
• 6 Recordings
• 7 Awards
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Early life

Thomas Böcker grew up in the small mountain town of Lauenstein in East Germany. During the 80s, his father was allowed to travel to the western part of Germany to visit his own mother and brought back a Commodore 64 for the family. For this reason, Böcker already had access to a home computer at the age of 7. Soon enough, he developed a p*ion for video game music and became especially fond of Chris Huelsbeck’s works on the Turrican series. Böcker's love of video game and cl*ical music would soon come together, as he realised the potential for scores and concerts to feature orchestral game music.

Concert productions

Symphonic Game Music Concerts

Main article: Symphonic Game Music Concerts

On August 20, 2003 Thomas Böcker produced and directed his first Symphonic Game Music Concert as a part of the official opening ceremony of the Leipzig Games Convention, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The event at the sold-out Gewandhaus concert hall was the first of its kind outside *an and received ten minutes of standing ovations. Following the success of the performance, further four annual concerts with various programmes took place in Leipzig until 2007. A large number of well-known composers took part in the events and the *ociated autograph sessions, including Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Michiru Yamane, Chris Huelsbeck, Rob Hubbard and Allister Brimble, among many others. Also, Yuzo Koshiro, Michiru Yamane and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi actively participated in the series as arrangers and performers. In an interview with the website Eurogamer, Nobuo Uematsu called Böcker a "key figure behind the popularisation of video game concerts outside *an" and a driving force in the field. According to Uematsu, without Böcker "there probably wouldn't have been any video game concerts in the West."

In conjunction with this work in Leipzig, Böcker brought orchestral game music around the world with leading roles on the concert tours PLAY! A Video Game Symphony from 2006 and Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy from 2007. He also inspired the use of game music for educational purposes, through creating the series of school concerts Heroes of our Imagination in 2006, including Super Mario Galaxy – A Musical Adventure.

Symphonic Shades – Hülsbeck in Concert

Main article: Symphonic Shades

Symphonic Shades: Hülsbeck in Concert was a symphonic tribute concert held twice in Cologne, Germany on August 23, 2008 by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln. The concert was held in honor of the German-born video-game composer Chris Hülsbeck, and featured orchestral arrangements exclusively based on Hülsbeck's works throughout his 22-year-long career. Symphonic Shades became the very first video game orchestra concert in history to be broadcast live on radio. On December 17, 2008, a concert recording was released by Hülsbeck's own label synSONIQ Records. It contains live material from the concert that is complemented by recordings before and after the public performances.

Symphonic Fantasies — Music from Square Enix

Main article: Symphonic Fantasies

Symphonic Fantasies — Music from Square Enix was a symphonic tribute concert originally held in Cologne, Germany on September 12, 2009 by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, featuring video game music from *anese game developer Square Enix. The concert featured symphonic movements based on the Kingdom Hearts series, Secret of Mana, the Chrono series, and the Final Fantasy series. Symphonic Fantasies was broadcast over radio on the WDR4 station and streamed live video online, as a world's first. In 2012, five new performances were scheduled, taking stage in Tokyo, Stockholm, and a reprise in Cologne. These performances featured slightly modified versions of the original arrangements, and like the original concerts, were sold out. Another performance was held in London in October 2016 by the London Symphony Orchestra. The original concert and the Tokyo concert both sparked the release of an album.

Symphonic Legends — Music from Nintendo

Main article: Symphonic Legends

Symphonic Legends – Music from Nintendo was a symphonic tribute concert held in Cologne, Germany on September 23, 2010 by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, featuring video game music from *anese game developer Nintendo. The concert featured symphonic arrangements found in some of Nintendo's biggest game series including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Metroid. Like the previous concerts performed by the WDR, Symphonic Legends was broadcast over radio, now in 5.1 surround sound, on the WDR4 station and was also broadcast online via live video streaming. On June 1, 2011, a concert based partially on the arrangements of Symphonic Legends was held in Sweden performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, *led LEGENDS. On July 13, 2014, the London Symphony Orchestra performed the Legend of Zelda symphonic poem from this programme.

Symphonic Odysseys — Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu

Main article: Symphonic Odysseys

Symphonic Odysseys — Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu was a symphonic tribute concert first held in Cologne, Germany on July 9, 2011 by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln. The concert exclusively paid homage to the work of *anese composer Nobuo Uematsu and featured music selected from his works as a video game music composer. Among the games featured were Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Last Story, King's Knight, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy Legend, and selected works from the Final Fantasy series. In June 2017, the London Symphony Orchestra performed Symphonic Odysseys. The first concert took place on June 18 at the Philharmonie de Paris in Paris, France, the second on June 20 at the Barbican Centre in London, United Kingdom. A recording of the concerts in Cologne was published as a two-disc album on December 28, 2011 by Dog Ear Records, Uematsu's own record label.

Final Symphony — Music from Final Fantasy

Main article: Final Symphony

In May 2012, Böcker announced his tenth major concert production en*led Final Symphony, featuring music from Final Fantasy VI, VII and X. The world premiere of the performance took place on May 11, 2013 and was presented by the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. Another performance of the concert took place on May 30, 2013: The first live performance of video game music by the London Symphony Orchestra. Final Symphony subsequently embarked on a world tour and had follow-up performances in *an, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, the USA, New Zealand, China, Austria and Australia. Final Symphony Tokyo was the first video game music concert ever to be greeted with standing ovations in *an. On December 13, 2014, Merregnon Studios announced a Final Symphony studio album, a recording of the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. On release February 23, 2015, the Final Symphony album reached the top position on the iTunes Cl*ical Charts in over ten countries, as well as the top five cl*ical albums on the Billboard charts and the Official UK Charts. Final Symphony marks Thomas Böcker's most successful game concert production to date.

Final Symphony II — Music from Final Fantasy

Main article: Final Symphony II

In March 2015, Final Symphony II saw its first announcement. Featuring music from Final Fantasy V, VIII, IX and XIII, the world premiere took place on 29 August 2015, presented by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, followed by four performances in September and October 2015 by the London Symphony Orchestra in London, Osaka and twice in Yokohama. The performances in *an marked the first time a foreign orchestra ever performed a video game concert in *an. Next to concerts in Germany, the UK and *an, Final Symphony II also got presented in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The London performance sold out and the *anese mini-tour played to packed halls with around 7,000 attendees.

Symphonic Memories — Music from Square Enix

Symphonic Memories — Music from Square Enix was premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on June 9, 2018. The concept of the production is to perform popular scores from previous programmes such as Symphonic Fantasies, Final Symphony and Final Symphony II, at times combining them with new arrangements. Next to music from Final Fantasy VI, VIII and the Chronos series, a suite of music from Final Fantasy XV was heard for the first time in Stockholm. Additional concerts were held in Finland, Switzerland, *an and Germany. The live performances in *an were recorded and released as an album by Square Enix's own music label. Alongside arrangements from Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy XV, the world premieres of Octopath Traveler and Xenogears are part of the release.

Merregnon: Land of Silence

Main article: Merregnon

Thomas Böcker is the creator, director and producer of the symphonic fairy tale Merregnon: Land of Silence. The concert features original music by Yoko Shimomura. It was created to introduce families and younger audiences to orchestral music in the tradition of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. The work was first performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and filmed at the Stockholm Concert Hall in June 2021. On September 10 of the same year, the video was made available free-to-view on the orchestra's website and features lightly animated illustrations of characters and plot points that accompany the music and narration. Worldwide performances are planned starting in 2022, with orchestras such as the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and again the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert

For the tenth anniversary of the popular action role-playing video game Skyrim by Bethesda Softworks, Böcker produced a concert film with the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices at the Alexandra Palace in London in 2021. The film, which was made available to watch on YouTube on November 11, 2021 received over one million views within a few weeks. An album was made available digitally shortly afterwards, mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

Orchestra recordings

In addition to his Merregnon albums, Thomas Böcker has also produced studio recordings such as for his Final Symphony concert. It was recorded in 2014 with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in the presence of composer Nobuo Uematsu. After its release in 2015, the album entered the Cl*ical Album Top 5 of the Billboard Charts and the Official Charts UK.

Böcker has also accepted executive roles on numerous other album productions, including the Amiga’s Immortal series, Masashi Hamauzu’s Vielen Dank, Yoko Shimomura’s drammatica as well as Chris Huelsbeck's two live orchestra albums featuring music from the Turrican series. He has supervised the studio recordings of the concerts Distant Worlds and Distant Worlds II.

Böcker's company Merregnon Studios has been extensively involved in studio recordings, compositions and arrangements for *les such as THQ’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Namco Bandai’s Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Record U.C. 0081 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Side Stories, Sega’s World Club Championship Football, Capcom's Dragon's Dogma and Sandbox Interactive's Albion Online, among many others.

Concerts

• 2022 Symphonic Memories Ludwigshafen (performed by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz)
• 2021 Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2021 Merregnon: Land of Silence (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2019 Symphonic Memories Kawasaki (performed by the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2019 Final Symphony II Essen (performed by the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2019 Final Symphony II Amsterdam (performed by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2019 Symphonic Memories St. Gallen (performed by the Symphony Orchestra St. Gallen)
• 2019 Symphonic Memories Oulu (performed by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra)
• 2018 Final Symphony Melbourne (performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)
• 2018 Symphonic Selections Dortmund (performed by the Dortmunder Philharmoniker)
• 2018 Symphonic Memories Stockholm (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2018 Final Symphony Vienna (performed by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra)
• 2018 Final Symphony Munich (performed by the Filmorchester Babelsberg)
• 2018 Final Symphony Berlin (performed by the Filmorchester Babelsberg)
• 2018 Final Symphony Hamburg (performed by the Filmorchester Babelsberg)
• 2017 Final Symphony Hong Kong (performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2017 Symphonic Odysseys London (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2017 Symphonic Odysseys Paris (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2017 Symphonic Selections Paris (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2017 Symphonic Selections Munich (performed by the Munich Radio Orchestra)
• 2016 Symphonic Selections Bochum (performed by the Bochumer Symphoniker)
• 2016 Final Symphony Auckland (performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra)
• 2016 Final Symphony San Francisco (performed by the San Francisco Symphony)
• 2016 Final Symphony Baltimore (performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra)
• 2016 Final Symphony San Diego (performed by the San Diego Symphony)
• 2016 Final Symphony II Stockholm (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2016 Final Symphony Amsterdam (performed by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2016 Final Symphony II Tampere (performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2015 Final Symphony II Yokohama (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2015 Final Symphony II Osaka (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2015 Final Symphony II London (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2015 Final Symphony II — music from Final Fantasy V, VIII, IX and XIII (performed by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn)
• 2014 Final Symphony Tampere (performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2014 Symphonic Legends London — music from The Legend of Zelda (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2014 Final Symphony Stockholm (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2014 Final Symphony Aarhus (performed by the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra)
• 2014 Final Symphony Tokyo (performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2013 Symphonic Selections — *anese Video Game Music (WDR concert)
• 2013 Final Symphony London (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra)
• 2013 Final Symphony — music from Final Fantasy VI, VII and X (performed by the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal)
• 2012 Symphonic Fantasies Stockholm — music from Square Enix (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2012 Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo — music from Square Enix (performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2011 Symphonic Odysseys — Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu (WDR concert)
• 2011 LEGENDS — music from Nintendo (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 2010 Symphonic Legends — music from Nintendo (WDR concert)
• 2009 Symphonic Fantasies — music from Square Enix (WDR concert)
• 2008 Symphonic Shades — Hülsbeck in concert (WDR concert)
• 2007 Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert (Opening Ceremony of the Games Convention)
• 2006 Fourth Symphonic Game Music Concert (Opening Ceremony of the Games Convention)
• 2005 Third Symphonic Game Music Concert (Opening Ceremony of the Games Convention)
• 2004 Second Symphonic Game Music Concert (Opening Ceremony of the Games Convention)
• 2003 First Symphonic Game Music Concert (Opening Ceremony of the Games Convention)

Consultation

• 2015 Video Game Music in Concert (concert of the State Philharmonic Nuremberg)
• 2014 Music in Motion (WDR concert)
• 2012 Soundtrack Cologne - East meets West (WDR concert dedicated to Eastern and Western video game music)
• 2012 Symphonic Fantasies — music from Square Enix (WDR concert dedicated to the music of Square Enix)
• 2011 Computerspiel-Sounds live in concert (Bayer Philharmonic youth concert)
• 2010 Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu (Solo piano album, Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2010 Super Mario Galaxy — A Musical Adventure (school concert tour featuring music from Super Mario Galaxy)
• 2009 Sinfonia Drammatica (concert of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra dedicated to Yoko Shimomura and Chris Huelsbeck)
• 2008 PROMS: That's Sound, That's Rhythm (WDR crossover concert, cl*ic and video game music)
• 2007 Distant Worlds — music from Final Fantasy (world tour featuring Final Fantasy music, consultant until 2011)
• 2006 PLAY! A Video Game Symphony (world tour featuring video game music, consultant until 2007)
• 2006 Chamber Music Game Concert (Opening Concert of Nintendo exhibition)
• 2006 Heroes of our Imagination (school concert tour featuring video game music and cl*ical music)

Recordings

• 2021 Albion Online (Sandbox Interactive)
• 2020 Symphonic Memories Concert (live concert album, Square Enix)
• 2020 PUBG MOBILE — Theme Music, Orchestral Version (orchestra video production, PUBG Corporation)
• 2019 PUBG — Erangel Orchestra (orchestra video production, PUBG Corporation)
• 2017 Turrican — Orchestral Selections (Chris Huelsbeck Productions)
• 2016 Turrican II — The Orchestral Album (Chris Huelsbeck Productions)
• 2016 Albion Online (Sandbox Interactive)
• 2015 Final Symphony — music from Final Fantasy VI, VII and X (Merregnon Studios/Square Enix/X5 Music Group)
• 2012 Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo (live concert album, Merregnon Studios/Square Enix)
• 2010 Symphonic Fantasies — music from Square Enix (live concert album, Decca Records/Square Enix)
• 2010 Distant Worlds II: more music from Final Fantasy (AWR Music/Square Enix)
• 2008 Symphonic Shades — Hülsbeck in concert (live concert album, Merregnon Studios)
• 2008 drammatica — Yoko Shimomura (Square Enix)
• 2007 Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy (AWR Music/Square Enix)
• 2007 Derby Owners Club 2008 Feel The Rush (Sega)
• 2007 Vielen Dank — Masashi Hamauzu (Square Enix)
• 2007 World Club Championship Football (Sega)
• 2005 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (THQ)
• 2002 Merregnon — Volume 2 (Merregnon Studios)

Awards

• 2020 Best Album - Official Arranged Album: Symphonic Memories Concert – music from Square Enix, Annual Game Music Awards 2020
• 2015 Best Album - Arranged Album: Final Symphony – music from Final Fantasy, Annual Game Music Awards 2015
• 2015 Outstanding Entrepreneurship - Cultural and Creative Pilots Award, German Federal Government
• 2015 First person to produce a video game concert outside *an: Thomas Böcker, Guinness World Records
• 2013 Outstanding Production - Concert: Final Symphony London – music from Final Fantasy, Annual Game Music Awards 2013
• 2012 Outstanding Production - Concert: Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo – music from Square Enix, Annual Game Music Awards 2012
• 2011 Outstanding Production - Concert: Symphonic Odysseys – Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu, Annual Game Music Awards 2011
• 2011 Best Live Concert: Symphonic Odysseys – Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu, Annual Original Sound Version Awards 011
• 2011 Best Live Concert: Symphonic Legends – music from Nintendo, Annual Original Sound Version Awards 2010
• 2010 Best Arranged Album - Solo / Ensemble: Symphonic Fantasies – music from Square Enix, Annual Game Music Awards 2010
• 2010 Best Concert: Symphonic Legends – music from Nintendo, Swedish LEVEL magazine

References

External links

• Thomas Böcker's official website,
• Game Concerts website,