Game Changers: East Meets West

WITH

Composers

CHAD CANNON

ILAN ESHKERI

SHIGERU UMEBAYASHI

MODERATED BY TAKESHI FURUKAWA (Composer)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

2:00-3:30pm PT // 4:00-5:30pm CT // 5:00-6:30pm ET

YouTube Live Stream

No one can deny that unforgettable video game scores have come from both Eastern and Western composers, but what are the differences and similarities between their compositional styles, and how have these regional scores influenced each other over the years? Join Ghost of Tsushima co-composers Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi, as well as Shigeru’s orchestrator Chad Cannon, in a discussion with moderator, composer Takeshi Furukawa (The Last Guardian), about what happens musically when East meets West.

Chad Cannon is a composer whose recent credits include the Oscar-winning Netflix documentary American Factory, HBO’s 2022 docuseries Mind Over Murder, Hidden Letters (2022 Tribeca Premiere; co-scored with Leona Lewis), and Sony PlayStation’s Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut (co-scored with Bill Hemstapat; the main theme by Ilan Eshkeri). Fluent in Japanese and conversational in Mandarin, Chad works frequently on Asia-connected projects, most notably as an arranger for Joe Hisaishi (including for Hisaishi’s Studio Ghibli / Hayao Miyazaki film music world tour). Chad is an alumnus of Harvard, Juilliard, the Sundance Composer Labs (2016), and co-founder of the Asia / America New Music Institute (AANMI), which promotes cultural exchange through concert music.

Ilan Eshkeri is an award-winning composer, artist, songwriter, producer, and creator. Eshkeri’s work is performed in concert, theatre, film, television, and video games; his eclectic body of work is linked to his love of narrative. Eshkeri has won and been nominated for many awards, including two BAFTAs and two Ivor Novellos. Amongst his extensive catalog are multiple Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy, and Grammy-winning works such as Still Alice, Stardusk, Shaun The Sheep, The Snowman & The Snowdog, The Young Victoria, A Perfect Planet, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Sims. Eshkeri has many long-term collaborators. He has worked multiple times with legendary naturalist Sir David Attenborough as well as with actor/director Ralph Fiennes. He has written two ballets and been asked to do many unique large-scale projects such a Reliquary for Burberry, a landmark fashion show, where he composed and conducted a choral symphonic suite, which then reached No. 1 in the UK classical charts, and a collaboration with the Louvre in Paris for the artist Ahae where he composed a symphonic suite which he conducted for thousands in the gardens of the Louvre.

Eshkeri’s many creative partnerships include artists such as Annie Lennox, David Gilmour, Sinead O’Connor, KT Tunstall, Tom Odell, Emily Sande, Ash, Take That, and Coldplay. Eshkeri continues his collaboration with astronaut Tim Peake and the Europeans Space Agency with his spell-binding show Space Station Earth last performed in Stockholm to an audience of 10,000 people. 

Shigeru Umebayashi is an internationally renowned composer best known for creating “Yumeji’s Theme” in Wong Kar-Wai’s film In The Mood For Love, as well as being the music producer and composer for Zhang Yimous’ films House Of Flying Daggers and Curse Of The Golden Flower. Umebayashi has proven his versatility in world cinema, working with such directors as Hong Kong’s Ronny Yu for Jet Li’s Fearless, Italy’s Roberta Torre for The Dark Sea, Serbia’s Uros Stojanovic for Tears For Sale, and England’s Peter Webber for Hannibal Rising. His work for the Beijing Olympic’s official documentary film Dream Weavers – Beijing 2008 won multiple International Awards. His other credits include A Single Man directed by Tom Ford, Days Of Grace directed by Everardo Gout, Trishna directed by Michael Winterbottom, and The Grandmaster by Wong Kar-Wai. In 2015, he produced and composed music for the Spanish film La Novia by Paula Ortis which won the Ferros Award for Best Original Score. 

Recent scores for Chinese production companies include The Wasted Times by Er Cheng, God Of War by Gordon Chan, Miss Puff by Xinyi Zhang, and the Chinese TV program Kings Back produced by and starring Zhang Biyi. He has also been scoring for video games such as Onmyoji by NetEast Co., and Sony PlayStation 4’s Ghost of Tsushima. 

Takeshi Furukawa is a BAFTA-nominated Japanese-American composer. From Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Wars: Clone Wars, to Cannes Lions-winning global campaigns for Mercedes-Benz, Canon, Sony, and Apple, Furukawa’s music has accompanied some of the world’s most iconic images on screen. His work on the acclaimed PlayStation title The Last Guardian has established him as one of the most exciting new voices in the video game industry. The score has garnered an Italian Video Game Award for Best Music, an IGN Award for Music of the Year, and a G.A.N.G. Award for Best Instrumental Composition, as well as nominations at the BAFTA Games Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, SXSW Gaming Awards, and the International Film Music Critics Association Awards among others. Furukawa’s works have been performed and recorded by many of the world’s preeminent ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and the American Youth Symphony to mention but a few. 

He is currently scoring the third season of the Apple TV+ original series Mythic Quest, the highly anticipated Microsoft Xbox exclusive Planet Of Lana, and several other upcoming television and video game projects. 

*** IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ ***

FREE for current SCL members (click HERE to check membership status).

Attendees will be emailed a Screening Link upon Registration and a Q&A YouTube Live Stream link on Tuesday, September 6, 10 minutes before Q&A start.

Attendees can ask questions on YouTube chat, and the SCL Host will pass them on to the Moderator. The SCL Member Code of Conduct applies to online Q&As.

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