Film Music Festival in Krakow

Video Game Show: The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt

TAURON Arena Kraków

30 May 2016; 7 p.m.

Special guests: Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikołaj Stroiński

Brodka

Wioletta Chodowicz — soprano solo

Robert Jaworski — ethnic instruments

Rafał Grząka — accordion

Amir Yaghamai — ghaychack, kemenche

Percival

Pro Musica Mundi Choir

AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy

Marek Moś — conductor

Slavic folk music, Scottish music and the colourful culture of the Vikings – we will hear the soundtrack to the last part of the Witcher game trilogy, which has won over 800 awards, during the finale of the 9th Krakow Film Music Festival. The composers of the soundtrack – Marcin Przybyłowicz and Mikołaj Stroiński – have accepted the invitation to the “Video Game Show” finale gala at the TAURON Arena Kraków.

The Witcher is one of the greatest successes of the Polish video game industry, while the title character, created by Andrzej Sapkowski, is one of the most recognisable and popular characters on the video game market. The first part of the game saga was released in 20027, the second – The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – in 2011 (that same year, a suite composed for The Witcher 2 by Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz premiered during the 4th edition of the FMF in Krakow). The last part – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – was released by CD PROJEKT RED in May last year; it is the product of the work of over 1500 people, and its production cost over 300 million PLN. Within only six weeks of the premiere, the game had sold 6 million copies.

The soundtrack for the multiple award-winning (including game of the year at The Game Awards 2015 gala) Witcher 3, will be presented during the “Video Game Show”, which will be the finale of this year’s edition of the FMF. “This is a very important concert, not only for fans of game music, but also for connoisseurs of music in general,” says Robert Piaskowski, Artistic Director of the FMF. “Video games are an important part of contemporary culture. For many young listeners, video games are their first encounter with symphonic music. The phenomenon is definitely worth consideration.”

The finale concert at the TAURON Arena Kraków is organised jointly by the Krakow Festival Office and CD PROJEKT RED studio. Invitations were extended to and accepted by composers of the soundtrack: Marcin Przybyłowicz – the studio’s music director, Piotr Musiał – the co-author of the Blood and Wine expansion to the game, as well as Mikołaj Stroiński – Polish film and television composer. The music they composed for The Witcher 3 is longer than the soundtracks to the other parts of the saga, and its pillars are ethnic music (including Slavic folklore as well as Celtic, Scottish and Scandinavian cultures), references to the works of pop culture (including popular series, historical films and fantasy productions) and quotations from the previous parts of the game. “We have achieved an extraordinary artistic and commercial success, contributing significantly to the popularisation of the Slavic musical sensitivity, which games all over the world immediately fell in love with. The soundtrack to The Witcher 3 has been called one of the best soundtracks of 2015, as evidenced by the substantial number of honours we have received,” explained Marcin Przybyłowicz, who was responsible for the overall music aspect of The Witcher.

In order to get as close as possible to the original sound and character captured by Adam Skorupa and Paweł Błaszczak in the first part of the game saga, Przybyłowicz invited the folk-metal band Percival – connected with Sapkowski’s saga not only through its name, but also because of the fascination of the musicians with the broadly defined fantasy formula – to work on the game. Members of the ensemble are known for their original interpretations and arrangements of Slavic music using folk and ethnic instruments, such as the saz, the kemençe, the sopilka and the davul.

On the 30th of May 2016, at the TAURON Arena Kraków, they will accompany the AUKSO Orchestra, the Pro Musica Mundi choir and soloists – Wioletta Chodowicz (soprano), Rafał Grząka (accordion), Robert Jaworski (hurdy-hurdy, lute, Gdańsk gusle) and Amir Yaghamai (master of Persian folk instruments) – in the concert performance of the soundtrack to The Witcher 3. The concert will be conducted by AUKSO founder and artistic director, Maestro Marek Moś.

More information: www.fmf.fm