Project ESPER becomes ESPER: A Final Fantasy VI Musical – Kickstarting next month!

So, as some of you may know, I’ve been working on a bit of a mad project for the last couple years: a musical theatre reimagining of Final Fantasy VI, co-arranged/composed with my friend Jeff Swingle. We’ve assembled a fantastic team of writers and musicians, produced more than a half-hour of music already, and we’re going to be sharing it leading up to our Kickstarter next month.

We’ve got two beautiful songs released so far, from our Celes (Jillian Aversa) and Locke (Mike Axtell, and both can be heard on our project’s site at http://espermusical.com, along with more project info and a lengthy secret preview for newsletter subscribers.
(Consider signing up! The Impresario will get off our backs about it at last!) 😉

It’d mean a MASSIVE amount to me if you’d check it out, and if you, or anyone you care about loves Final Fantasy, musical theatre, opera, audio drama, or reimaginings of classic video game scores, I’d be so happy if you shared it with them.
Thanks. ❤

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For The King – “Into The Deep” Soundtrack Preview!

“For The King” has been steadily expanding since it’s launch back in April, and I’ve had the pleasure of writing a boatload (ha!) of additional music for it.

Our latest expansion, “Into The Deep” afforded me a chance to write not only swashbuckling pirate music suitable for naval combat and getting inebriated at the local tavern, but also a suite of tracks for the new island archipelagos you’d encounter on your quest. Check out the new music here, along with music from the previous expansions, and if you own the game, give the new adventure a go when it launches tomorrow!

Two New Interviews!

Over the last few months I sat down for two neat interviews, one with Kate Remington of the fantastic game music podcast, “Music Respawn”, where we discussed the score for For The King (and more!), and one with Karl Magi, a writer who delved into how I got into composing, my history, background, and musical influences!

You can find the Music Respawn episode here:
http://www.wshu.org/post/john-robert-matz-leaving-room-unexpected-king#stream/0

And you can stream it directly here:

Karl’s written interview is here:

https://hubpages.com/entertainment/An-Interview-with-Video-Game-Composer-John-Robert-Matz

I had a great time talking with both of them, and I hope you enjoy the results!

For The King Launches on April 19th – Soundtrack Preorders Open!

After a year in Early Access, honing and fine-tuning the game, For The King is launching on Steam in full on April 19th!To accompany our launch, I’ve carefully assembled the For The King Original Game Soundtrack, 30 tracks and over an hour of music for adventuring across Fahrul’s sprawling countryside, fighting evil and vanquishing chaos. (And, invariably, dying repeatedly.)  It’s available for pre-order on Bandcamp now!

Thank you all for supporting me along the way; I’m thrilled to share this with you.
For The King was an absolute joy to work on. Getting the chance to pull inspiration from some of my favorite eras of music history and write a sprawling fantasy score around them was a dream come true. This was also a wonderful opportunity to stretch myself as a performer, and my studio is now cluttered with recorders, flutes, hand drums, dulcimers, and other assorted and sundry ancient and folk instruments as a result.
Send help.

“Ambition: A Minuet in Power” – Kickstarter Launched!

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that the Kickstarter for “Ambition: A Minuet in Power” is LIVE!

If you’ve ever wanted to seduce, scheme, blackmail, and backstab your way through the French Revolution, this is your moment.

I’m particularly excited to get the opportunity to embrace the sounds of the period, and to do so with the aid of some truly fantastic musicians. (Andrew Steffen and Andrew Stern of the ETHEReal String Orchestra and the transcendent oboe of Kristin Naigus grace my story trailer score, “So Much More”.)

 

Please check out the campaign and share it with your friends!

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joymanufacturingco/ambition-a-minuet-in-power

CALL FOR SOUND DESIGNERS – Final Fantasy VI Musical/Audio Drama

Hello everyone!
As many of you may know, Jeff Swingle (@Jeff_Swingle) and I are hard at work on Project ESPER, a musical theatre/audio drama hybrid adaptation of the classic JRPG, “Final Fantasy VI”.  We’ve assembled a fantastic production team so far, and now, as we prepare for our upcoming Kickstarter, we’re once again recruiting!
We’re looking for sound designers; people to help us bring the world of FF6 to life through audio.  Since the story is told entirely through dialogue, song, music, and sound, we need to be able to conjure and illustrate worlds and situations through skillful sound design.  Everything from footsteps to Magitek machinery, to magical blasts and monsters will will be up to you to help create and place on our virtual theatre stage.
It’s a paid position, post-Kickstarter success, and we plan to include a revenue share in the project as well.

If interested, please fill out the application form below and submit your demo reels and credits before Midnight PST, on Sunday, July 30th.
Thank you!

https://goo.gl/forms/JqxpyjjJzDDU3pxE3

Fireside Chats and Interviews!

Wherein the fire is the blistering Chicagoland sun. 😉
I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with J.A. over at ObsoleteGamer about my music, and I mostly appeared intelligent! You can check it out here:
http://obsoletegamer.com/obsolete-gamer-show-john-robert-matz/

In addition, I had the opportunity to offer some more nuanced takes on my work on Fossil Echo over at Realm of Gaming:
http://www.realmofgaming.com/interview/JohnRobertMatzInterview/75.html