MP3 Format – Run time: 22:35. A transcript will be available shortly.

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With new announcements being made weekly about the increasingly popular Play! concert series, set to kick off on May 27 in Chicago, we were fortunate to steal a few moments of Jason Paul’s time at E3 to chat about his works, both new and old. 

Jason Paul is the man behind the popular Dear Friends concert series that swept across the United States in 2005, as well the explosive More Friends concert, which featured not only orchestrated music from Final Fantasy, but also special guests from Japan, including Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu’s rock band, The Black Mages, and many of the vocal artists who sang the memorable Final Fantasy singles that were major radio hits in Japan.

In the interview, Jason Paul describes his inspiration for creating the Play! concert series. He also explains what goes into putting on such an expansive show, including his personal relationships with many people in the industry as well as with famous game composers from Japan.  We also find out why there was no CD release of the Dear Friends concert series.

He also graced us with a surprise announcement regarding who will be performing at the show, cryptically saying, “It’s someone playing piano, and it’s from the biggest selling video game of all time, and probably the biggest selling console of all time.”  Can this possibly mean Koji Kondo will be performing at Play!?  Let the speculation begin.

We are also given insight into Jason Paul’s next project, which he hinted will involve film and music, which he claims will be “the biggest project of the year in the world.”

I urge you all to check out the Play! website and to find a show near you.

http://www.play-symphony.com/