Kingston Symphony to host groundbreaking live video game concert

By Christena Lawrie, CFRC's Broadcast Journalist and Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

In an innovative fusion of live music and gaming, the Kingston Symphony is set to host a concert on April 12 that will showcase high-level gameplay alongside a full orchestra. 

“Symphonic Speedruns” will feature renowned speedrunners Scott Verner (known online as Evansfight) and Randy Lassinger (known online as Grondious), who will play live while the orchestra performs the original scores of beloved games Celeste and Cuphead in sync with the gameplay. A speedrunner is someone trying to complete a video game in the shortest time possible.

This unique collaboration, led by Music Director Evan Mitchell, aims to create a dynamic experience that has never been attempted at this scale before. 

Mitchell explained in an interview with CFRC, “In the case of Symphony, we’ve always been interested in doing things a little bit differently. And with a deeper dive, we’ve figured that this is actually a way to elevate the video game concert experience to something that has not yet been done.”

Listen to the full story here.