Orchestra members:
Conductor: Robby Good
Flute: Matthew Origel, Yundian Cao
Oboe: Neil Cole, Thacher Schreiber
Clarinet: Madelyn Armes, Shiun Choi
Bassoon: Abby Brendza, Corey Castillo
Horn: Vincent Jurado, Iona Pay, Abby Higgins, Michelle Yang
Trumpet: Austin Ali, Aric Kline
Trombone: Hiram Rodriguez, Ethan Holmes
Tuba: Hannah Stefureak
Timpani: Cash Langi
Percussion: Justin Cole, Madison Bottenberg, Meenah Alam, Danny La France, Erica Hou
Piano: Ashley Dao
Harp: Alaina Stark
Violin I: Christian Gonzales, Ela Kodžas, Celeste Pena, Alice Townsend, Nivram Castro, Kayla Phan, Andrew Kim, Matheo Irazabal
Violin II: Arielle Claire Kasyanova, Ruka Nagashima, Janice Hu, Rebecca Beerstein, Mingye Wang
Viola: Angie Zheng, Lorenna Garcia, Daniel Oviedo, Nikhil Seshadri
Cello: Christopher Ye, Joe Kim, Peter Walsh, Emma Yim, Alvin Liu
Bass: Chris Baechtel, Kelsey Chan, Josh Darrow
"DANGANRONPA" is a murder-mystery video game series from Japan that was released in 2010, and is known for its distinct character design and pseudo-cyberpunk artstyle among other recurring literary themes and its own unique formula. The series has garnered a large online following over the past few years and, as a result, a number of fan-driven projects have given rise. After finishing and deeply enjoying the series back in 2019, I began to look across the corners of the online fanbase to see what projects were currently in development, and in my search, I stumbled onto a game, still in its earliest stages, that looked to be incredibly promising. During the pandemic, I got in touch with the then-10-person development team, and after creating my own initial contribution to the soundtrack, I was officially added on to the team of "Project: Eden’s Garden" as composer, and then eventually co-composer.
Since the release of the initial trailer in January of 2021, which has since garnered over 1.25 million views on RU-vid, the project has grown to a much larger size, and has begun to deviate and evolve into its own entity away from the series it was deeply inspired by, and has begun to form its own identity. As of writing this program note, a demo of the game is on track to being released in mid-to-late 2022.
The main title theme from "Project: Eden’s Garden" is meant to be the first piece of audio the player hears upon opening the game, providing establishment of both melodic and timbral themes that will be present throughout the course of the game. The track is meant to grow in intensity over the course of its short runtime, essentially serving as the “hype generator” for the oncoming experience, playing under a video that showcases and introduces the character roster, as well as the stakes for the story.
Social media for "Project: Eden's Garden":
RU-vid: / @projectedensgarden
Twitter: / projedensgarden
Footage from the documented livestream from my undergraduate capstone composition recital for the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in Schoenberg Hall on May 8, 2022.
12 май 2022
