Saturday Evening, March 10, 2018, 6:00

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

DAVID M. RUBENSTEIN, Chairman
DEBORAH F. RUTTER, President Please be advised:
Patrons seated in this area may be filmed for the
Presents broadcast of this event on the Kennedy Center’s
website.

From Bits to Brass: A SEATING IS ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS.

We regret that as the theater reaches capacity,

Symphonic Adventure seats cannot be saved for patrons who have
not arrived or are not next in line.
through Video Game Thank you for understanding.

Music Please refrain from using audio or video recording equipment

during the performance.

Due to safety and security considerations, please refrain from

Join the Gamer Symphony Orchestra for a
spectacular musical journey celebrating video game
music as a means for gamers, musicians, and
enthusiasts alike to share stories of passion,
learning, and friendship. Featuring popular pieces
from all across the video game music landscape,
this showcase of musical masterpieces will help you
discover the magic where games and music meet.
standing in the aisles during the performance. If you have any
questions, the uniformed ushers are available to assist you.
Please silence all cell phones and electronic devices during
the performance.
Artist Liaison and Multimedia Broadcaster volunteers, part of
the Friends of the Kennedy Center volunteer program, assist
staff at the Millennium Stage every night of the year.
Tonight at the Kennedy Center

7:00 PM Washington National Opera

House
Opera: Don Carlo

This performance, as part of DIRECT CURRENT, the Kennedy Center’s 7:00 & 9:00 PM KC Jazz Club: Myra Melford
celebration of contemporary culture, is presented as part of the
Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives. Terrace
with Snowy Egret
Gallery

8:00 PM NSO: John Adams's The Gospel

Concert
According to the Other Mary Hall

9:00 PM Shear Madness Theater

Lab

About DIRECT CURRENT
Modern masterpieces, cutting-edge composition,
dance, drag, film, jazz, Hip Hop, video games, and
electronica all converge in DIRECT CURRENT, the
Kennedy Center’s two-week celebration of
contemporary culture. From interdisciplinary
creations in which artistic worlds collide to
innovative responses to topical concerns, this
immersive music-driven experience showcases
some of the most potent, provocative, and original
voices in American arts today.
In this inaugural season of DIRECT CURRENT,
culture mavens and the culturally curious will
witness, act, and interact as artistic risk-takers use
their art to spark introspection, conversation, and
action. This current of creativity spreads throughout
the city, with events at The Phillips Collection,
Dupont Underground, and the 9:30 Club as well as
the Kennedy Center. With many free events,
workshops, and talk-backs, DIRECT CURRENT
invites you to plug in and electrify your mind.
Video games are as contemporary and influential to
our society as a community and in artistic output as
you can find. Incorporating visual art, costume
design, digital media, story writing, music,
movement, and more, video games utilize every
form of artistry out there. This student-run
orchestra from University of Maryland is full of
musically inclined video game lovers. We believe,
as they do, that it is about time for video games to
be celebrated and showcased for their creative
contribution to society.
About the Artists
The Gamer Symphony Orchestra (GSO) at the
University of Maryland, College Park is the first
collegiate ensemble exclusively dedicated to performing
orchestral arrangements of video game music. The full
orchestra and chorus together include more than 130
members from all majors, backgrounds, and
experiences. For more than 12 years, the completely
student-run GSO has been making video game music
more accessible for gamers, musicians, and casual
observers alike through free public performances and
free online access to our recordings. Each semester, the
GSO brings together more than 1,000 people in
Dekelboum Concert Hall, the University of Maryland’s
largest concert hall, under the shared love of gaming
music. GSO’s mission is to bridge the worlds of video
games and the performing arts and promote orchestral
video game music as an art form.
For the GSO, video game music is a powerful tool to
bring together otherwise different gamers, musicians,
and curious individuals, and define a unique and
evolving art by celebrating similarities and collective
strengths. Video games tell stories and give context to
their music in a way accessible to individuals from all
kinds of backgrounds. Through video game music, GSO
strives to foster a community that celebrates this shared
language as well as the passion and curiosity to learn
and grow with the community. GSO’s repertoire is drawn
from a community of passionate individuals worldwide
ranging from aspiring musicians within the orchestra to
accomplished composers such as Grant Kirkhope. GSO
further utilizes video game music to enrich the
community through annual game-themed charity events
for Children’s National Hospital and through
participating in educational initiatives such as the USA
Science and Engineering Festival and performing for
Smithsonian’s Art of Video Games exhibitions. Through
these pursuits, the GSO strives to inspire and enable the
next generation of dreamers to pursue their own
passions as GSO does.

Video games and music are each a masterful art in

telling the stories of developers and composers. Through
the intersection of video games and music, GSO family
and friends, performers, and audience alike, write their
own stories. Together.