This dramatic cue from the film Home Room features strings, piano, and one of the signature solo instruments of that score, bass flute.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Breakdown | |
Many fantasy-themed games lovingly pilfer from Tolkien and add orcs to their indigenous species. In Hex: Shards of Fate the orcs are a comparatively benevolent race. (Think new school Klingons rather than old school.) In writing their theme I was careful to balance the sense of martial culture with a heroic undercurrent.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Advance of the Orcs | |
In the movie Siren, a groupie comes a little close for comfort to a married band member. I scored the abortive moment of temptation with ambient electric guitar and vocals, respectively performed by Tom Strahle and Hilary Hearty.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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With the Band | |
The next music cue from the Hex series, this week’s selection is both a darker and more energetic take on the traveling/map view visual. The game’s main theme has been transformed into a repeating phrase in the flutes which dances above the slower brass and string statements.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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The Journey Underway | |
In May 2014 Michael’s concerto for guzheng and orchestra (“Identity: Zhongshan Zhuang”, co-written with Victor Cheng) continued its concert tour of the United States with two performances by the renowned Chicago Sinfonietta, under the baton of maestro Mei-Ann Chen. Guzheng virtuoso Su Chang returned as soloist. The concerto was programmed alongside a number of other orchestral works with European and Far Eastern folk music influences.
Audiences were enthusiastic during both performances in Naperville and Symphony Center in downtown Chicago, breaking into applause even between movements.
From the Chicago Tribune Local (Aurora): “It was unforgettable and made me fall in love with this beautiful instrument and with such touching Chinese music. The combination of a modern symphonic orchestra and an ancient Chinese instrument sounded so unique … [it] should be presented to more and more audiences in the world”
Michael Gordon Shapiro, Mei-Ann Chen, guzheng soloist Su Chang, co-composer/producer Victor Cheng.
