If you are a FINAL FANTASY VII fan, or even a fan of FINAL FANTASY in general, then you undoubtedly know that one of the biggest releases of 2024 was FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth exclusively on the PlayStation 5. A few months after the game was released, AWR Music, in conjunction with SQUARE ENIX, has embarked on a worldwide orchestra tour to bring the music of the game to fans far and wide.
After attending the debut performance for FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour in Los Angeles, I was lucky enough to sit down for an interview with one of the two conductors for the tour, Arnie Roth. In Part Two of this two-part interview, we talk about how setlists are determined for Distant Worlds and FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour, what he is currently listening to, about FINAL FANTASY VII- A Symphonic Reunion, and more.
If you missed Part One, you can read it here.
You can check out my review of FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour here.
You can also purchase tickets for FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour now.
Finally, you can find out more about AWR Music at their official website, on Instagram, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, and on X.
This interview has been edited for content and clarity.
OR: Did you pick and choose what music pieces to include in the setlist for the FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour?
AR: No, that was actually picked by the FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth team. [Tetsuya] Nomura was a big part of that, and the entire team. They gave me the line up – the one thing I am doing is shifting some of the score order. Which performance did you hear, the LA?
OR: The debut in LA.
AR: So, that was the first performance. And one thing that I had pointed out to them, even before we started the tour, was ‘wow, we have a very long first half in terms of the balance.’ It’s almost 60 minutes of music in the first half [and] the second half goes much more quickly. And there’s also another dichotomy in that we really had the end of the first half going into Golden Saucer.
We tried in Chicago, just this last Saturday night – we did two concerts. In the second concert, we shifted Bare Your Soul and Welcome to Golden Saucer to open the second half, and then Loveless, just to help with the minutes of music and also, programmatically, it makes sense. And I think we’re probably going to stick with that order. I have some influence in terms of helping with the order decisions, and that kind of thing.
In Distant Worlds, I have a lot more programming autonomy. I have a couple of framework and concepts that we try to stay with in programming, but they allow me to shift all the music scores. I mean, Distant Worlds, we have 160-170 scores right now. And so, you never really have to repeat everything, although there are a couple of classics that we like to show. But with Remake or Rebirth and Chapter Three, when it comes down the road, I think it’ll be very well picked and sculpted by the team.
OR: I was there on a very snowy night in March 2008 for the North American debut of Distant Worlds at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago. Now for me, it was amazing and unforgettable hearing Distant Worlds from FINAL FANTASY XI Online expansion Chains of Promathia being performed life. What was that night like for you? What were your thoughts after that night was over?
AR: I do remember that fantastic opening night here. But it wasn’t the very first performance of Distant Worlds – the first on was in December 2007 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm. And I remember that being, again, because it was the first one, an unbelievable experience. One of the reasons it happened that way was because we had recorded our Distant Worlds I album with that orchestra and we happened to premiere there. Nobuo was there for that one, as well.
I also remember, probably the biggest shocking experience for me, was the very first Dear Friends in 2005 that I did. That was also in Chicago, in February at the Rosemont Theatre – you know, 4,000 people that sold out. And at the time, many fans weren’t sure if there were going to be more – Distant Worlds wasn’t created yet – but if there were going to be more concerts of this. So, there was a worry about that with a lot of fans. It was an absolutely electric moment, and so was the beginning of Distant Worlds.
But they’ve continued to be electric – especially when we play cities that we haven’t in before or that were rarely [visited]. Royal Albert Hall in London is fantastic, Carnegie Hall in New York [City], all the LA concerts are fantastic. But so is Seattle and San Francisco, and so is Berlin. [In] Paris – the French crowd is fantastic. The Italian crowd in Milan and Rome [are] fantastic. And southeast Asia is fantastic too, we want to get back to Australia again. We haven’t been there since 2018 or 2019? We’d like to get back there. We’re working on that for next year.
That was an electric moment, that first Distant Worlds – which other concerts have you seen?
“But thankfully, the series keeps going, right? So, there are new games, and there are some fantastic stuff in XVI that we are finally just now playing and that’s been a lot of fun to do. Everything keeps developing.”
OR: I’ve seen pretty much everything – and I [want] to ask you about FINAL FANTASY VII Symphonic Reunion which happened in June 2019.
AR: That was an unusual one, right?
OR: It was! While it showed the playthough of the entire FINAL FANTASY VII game on PlayStation One, what threw me about it – and I wrote about this – there were 14 live performances, three piano solos, and a lot of pre-recorded music playing. It’s the first and only time I’ve been to a FINAL FANTASY concert that didn’t have a fully live score. Can you talk a bit about that?
AR: Just to point it out – that was a one-time performance. It was conceived of by SQUARE ENIX. They brought me in as conductor. I didn’t produce that, and I didn’t pick the pianist or any of this. They wanted me to conduct those scores. I think they, honestly, know that there needed to be improvements on all of that.
The point of doing that concert was not clear to a lot of the fans, and to call it a concert, as a matter of fact – as a lot of fans pointed out – there was a lot of pre-recorded video on that too. So, it was a little confusing to fans because it was billed as a concert. SQUARE ENIX understands, they read all the feedback and they understand that. I really don’t have any more comments about it, other than it was an assignment that they asked me to conduct. We did that.
I think they were, maybe, trying to introduce – remember, a lot of things for many years were programmed around E3 in LA. I think that was one factor about this as well. ‘What are we going to do for E3 this year?’ or something like that. If I recall, it was alongside E3 or around that time, I could be wrong. I don’t think they’ll do that again.
OR: They did another concert, KINGDOM HEARTS Orchestra -World of Tres- the night before. I reviewed that one as well. It was an interesting event.
AR: That may be more convention-style than concert-style. They were heading that direction for those like-presentations. So, we’ll be working on a lot more projects as well with them going forward.
OR: When we briefly met at FINAL FANTASY VII Orchestra World Tour in Los Angeles, I asked you this – but I want to ask you here again. With Distant Worlds and A New World: Music from FINAL FANTASY– which your son, Eric Roth, conducts – and other various concert series, all of that music is drawn from the mainline numbered FINAL FANTASY entries. There are amazing tracks from sequels, such as Lightning’s Theme – A Distant Glimmer from Lightning Returns: FINAL FANTASY XIII, that would be amazing for an orchestra to perform. Is it a conscious decision to limit the music to only [the] mainline numbers? If so, why?
AR: The answer is very easy. Yes, it is a conscious decision. Yes, I agree with you that there’s lots of other music on the offshoot games. So many of them, way more than the main roman numerals, right? It was a conscious decision simply because every single concert has a limited amount of minutes. If your goal is to represent FINAL FANTASY I through XVI, you’ll already, even if you just did one score from each of those – you’re already at two hours of music.
If you also have a couple of classics that have to be in there: two from FINAL FANTASY VII, two from VIII, two from XIV, or whatever – you have really eaten up your concert right away. It’s really a function of time, not anything else.
We have talked at times about doing some kind of a gala where we could present other things over several days. Maybe at some point in the future, we’re able to do that. But thankfully, the series keeps going, right? So, there are new games, and there are some fantastic stuff in XVI that we are finally just now playing and that’s been a lot of fun to do. Everything keeps developing.
And the other thing is that SQUARE ENIX is allowing me to do more themed Distant Worlds concerts. So, instead of this kind of broad-representing everything in every Distant Worlds concerts, I am able to do a thrust of XIV or XVI or maybe VII-IX-X, or whatever it may be. So, we’re experimenting around with being able to do that kind of thing. It doesn’t mean we’re not performing things from the other games, it just means that there may be a little more concentration.
Now, that worked very well when we had our concert in Carnegie Hall and Seattle with Soken, and we’ll be having more of those concerts. But we’re encouraged by that kind of programming, that that might be another way forward.
OR: Is there any particular piece that you would love to conduct from FINAL FANTASY that you haven’t done so yet? Anything from a spinoff?
AR: You know, that’s a tough question. I don’t think I can give you a specific piece. There are some specific pieces that we haven’t been able to perform very much. That’s one of the reasons that we’ve brought back Dancing Mad – people ask for that all the time. It was programmatically perfect for bringing back at the 20th anniversary of FINAL FANTASY VI, and also, it’s referenced in XIV. So it fit very well in that program, and we’re going to try to do some things like that going forward.
But trying to give you a specific piece that we haven’t done? I don’t have that for you right now. We get suggestions all the time, by the way.
“So, I will never take it for granted that we’re just going to keep going forever and be able to do these [performances] because there can be COVID or any number of things that will stop us in our tracks.”
OR: Your son, Eric Roth, is a conductor in his own right, and he is also conducting multiple stops on the FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour too.
What is it like for you to have him both follow in your footsteps and yet standout beyond them as an accomplished conductor in his own right – including on the A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY series? I did attend [it] in Berkeley, California back in April 2022.
AR: I mean, it’s fantastic. Eric has a bachelor, masters, and PhD in music, music composition, and scoring. He has a wonderful analytical mind for these things. I think early on, it wasn’t necessarily decided that he was going to go into our commercial trust that we’re in.
But, I think once he started doing some of these concerts, he’s absolutely fallen in love with it and he’s embraced bringing in a lot of new scores, which has been really a lot of fun. We get a lot of latitude from what we can do with A New World, and we’re able to bring in a lot more new scores there. With Distant Worlds, we have to go through a larger approval process and there are many teams that we go through with SQUARE ENIX. With A New World, we do have approvals, but we can suggest a lot more and they are allowing us to do a lot more. Eric has had a great time doing that. Yeah, it’s fantastic – it’s really great – that he’s able to do that.
But I’ll tell you: We’re building up so many productions these days, and there are more to come here in the next few years. We probably will be looking at adding another conductor because [of] the amount of stuff going on concurrently – this is the first time, historically, that SQUARE ENIX has allowed us to do [this]. I’m in Japan doing [FINAL FANTASY] VII Rebirth, Eric is doing Rotterdam and Munich and Rome, right?
This is the first time that they’ve allowed the same production to be in two different continents at the same time. Previously, they didn’t allow that. They’re expanding with all that stuff. Now that they’re allowing us to do that, it allows us to plan other types of events like that. So very interesting, moving forward. It’s opening the door to a lot of interesting scheduling and programming.
OR: Who are you currently listening to?
AR: I’m listening to – well, let me preface before I get into that. I’m constantly listening to all the music that I have to deal with in our concerts. Especially go into VII Rebirth – tremendous amount of listening to the mini demo scores and all that we’re sent, along with sending the scores. That takes up a lot of my time.
In terms of casually listening? There’s some great new jazz artists that’ve come out. You know, there’s some wonderful contemporary classical music that I’m listening to. But I will tell you that a famous Chicago symphony musician once said to me: ‘Music is my life, all day long and all night. Every week when I go home, I like some silence.’ *laughs* And the reality is: refreshing one’s ears is a real factor. Listening to other things, other genres, and not the repertoire that we’re working on all the time. But I have to tell you that the ear and the brain are a muscle that has to be exercised as well.
The more that I can get the scores into my head – and I will say also that in VII Rebirth, we have many more medleys that we’ve had in previous productions. And with that is a lot more demanding tempo transitions, sections, and things like that we have to move 100 musicians on the stage into that. And some of these are what we call in the industry ‘scissor cuts’. There is no setup to it, you just go right into the next tempo. So, teaching that, and showing that – again, with the hands – is a big mental exercise and something I work on so that in my limited rehearsal time with them, I can pull them through on all this. It is very important quality – I am spending a lot of time working on these things.
Samara Joy: a beautiful jazz singer – I’ve really enjoyed her work. There’s a whole bunch of singers that I’m enjoying working with. I’ve also enjoyed working with Amanda Achen recently, she is doing a great job. And we’ll do more [with her].
OR: Last question: To those people out there who are thinking about attending DISTANT WORLDS or FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour, or another production put on by AWR Productions but haven’t attended one before, do you have anything that you want to say to them?
AR: Well, there’s a couple of things. One is that we were shocked, when we did the recent FINAL FANTASY XIV/XVI Distant Worlds programs, we had a tremendous amount of people attending who had only gone to XIV Fanfest or that kind of thing and were attending a Distant Worlds concert for the first time. That is very interesting and gratifying to us. That means that we’re bringing in yet more fans, because we have tremendous very loyal Distant Worlds fans who come back for many concerts. That’s one thing.
The other thing is that we tried to keep these concerts extremely fresh – and by that, I mean there are new scores coming all the time. Not only new but bringing back some scores that haven’t been performed in maybe 10 years. Recently, we brought back things like Vamo’alla Flamenco from IX, or as I mentioned – Dancing Mad. And the [Maria and Draco] opera we did in San Francisco, recently. We love bringing these things back. We love doing that. For fans that have not gone to Distant Worlds, I think that they know the community already, they don’t need me to say ‘Talk to the fans who’ve been to Distant Worlds, don’t listen to me trying to explain why you should come.’ I will just say that most people who’ve attended have said that it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the real diehard, the real core, FINAL FANTASY fans to hear these things live with 100 musicians on stage.
And I don’t take this for granted. I mean, putting these productions together is a very big piece of work each time. A hundred of the top musicians in the world in each city, you really have to kind of work at all the logistics involved. Availability, venue, sound – all of these things are part of it, and the rehearsal schedule. So, I will never take it for granted that we’re just going to keep going forever and be able to do these things because there can be COVID or any number of things that will stop us in our tracks.
I would encourage people: take advantage of it, we’re trying to present these concerts in as many cities as we can that can support it. It’s just not possible to bring it to some of the very small, smaller, population bases – even though we have. We’ll go to Omaha, and we’ll go to some of the smaller cities, but we can’t do it very often with that kind of expense and personnel. But we really try to bring it all over the map in North America and [to] many cities in Europe as well. We’re expanding in southeast Asia; we’ll do more concerts there. And we want to get into Australia and some of the other territories as well.
OR: Thank you!
I want to thank Arnie Roth and AWR Music for taking the time to set up and participate in this interview!
You can (and should!) purchase tickets for FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour now.
What music pieces would you like to see in a future Distant Worlds performance?
Are you planning on attending FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour?
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