| Orchestral concert tour by Merregnon Studios | |
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| Conductor | Eckehard Stier |
|---|---|
| Composer | Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Jonne Valtonen |
| Arrangers | Masashi Hamauzu, Jonne Valtonen, Roger Wanamo |
| Location | Germany, England, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands |
| Start date | August 29, 2015 |
| Producer | Thomas Böcker (Merregnon Studios) |
| Merregnon Studios concert chronology | |
Final Symphony II is a symphonic concert tour first held at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany on August 29, 2015. The concert performances feature arrangements of video game music selected from the Final Fantasy series, specifically Final Fantasy V, VIII, IX, and XIII. It is divided into four acts, one per game, with the newest game, Final Fantasy XIII, first, and the oldest, V, last; all four arrangements are single-section arrangements, with the IX portion as a piano concerto. The tour is a follow-up to Final Symphony, a similar tour of orchestral arrangement performances from Final Fantasy VI, VII, and X beginning in 2013. The concert is produced and directed by Thomas Böcker of Merregnon Studios, with arrangements provided by Finnish composer and musician Jonne Valtonen, along with Roger Wanamo and Final Fantasy XIII composer Masashi Hamauzu. The original works were composed by Nobuo Uematsu and Hamauzu, and an introductory piece was composed by Valtonen. The premiere concert was performed by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under conduction from Eckehard Stier, with guest performer Mischa Cheung joining the orchestra on piano.
Following the initial performance, Final Symphony II was performed in several other venues. It was first performed in London (United Kingdom) at the Barbican Centre by the London Symphony Orchestra on September 12, 2015. The London Symphony Orchestra then travelled to Japan to perform the concert in Osaka on September 27, and twice in Yokohama on October 4, the first time that a non-Japanese orchestra played a video game music concert in Japan. The 2016 performances of the concert were a concert on April 1 at the Tampere Hall in Tampere, Finland by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, and a June 9 concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden. The Tampere concert featured an extra encore piano performance in addition to the two encores performed at all concerts. The 2019 performances were by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and by the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra July 5 and July 6 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the Philharmonic Hall Essen in Essen, Germany. For 2024, concerts are planned featuring the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham, United Kingdom and the Royal Northern Sinfonia at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Newcastle, United Kingdom.
A video of the Stockholm performance of the Final Fantasy VIII section was released on September 23, 2016. A studio album recorded in summer 2023 and performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra was released on August 4, 2023. One piece, "Final Fantasy VIII – Mono no aware", was included in the Symphonic Memories Concert series in 2018 and 2019, and include in the associated Symphonic Memories Concert - music from Square Enix album. The concerts have been heavily praised, both for the quality of the performance and for the quality of the arrangements. Critics have claimed the concerts to be one of the highest quality video game music orchestral performances produced, along with the original Final Symphony, with the second tour considered to have simpler arrangement styles than the first but in turn be more approachable to audiences.