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A special orchestral concert will take place later this year in Japan, celebrating the impressive 39-year career of Yoko Shimomura, the legendary composer behind music for games like Street Fighter II, Super Mario RPG, and Kingdom Hearts.
The concert was announced earlier today and will take place at the 1999-person venue, the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, on Friday, September 25th, 2026 (h/t: denfaminicogamer).
The concert is expected to feature many songs from Shimomura's incredible career, including tracks like 'Hometown Domina' from Legend of Mana, the main theme from Xenoblade Chronicles, 'Beware the Forest's Mushrooms' from Super Mario RPG, and other select tracks from Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts.
Arnie Roth, who was previously involved with the Distant Worlds music from FINAL FANTASY concert series, will conduct, with Shimomura expected to perform alongside the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Shimomura is (in our view) rightly regarded as one of the best composers in gaming and has received several accolades for her work over the years.
This includes a Game Developers' Choice Awards lifetime achievement award, presented to her in 2024, and a BAFTA Fellowship award, given to her in April 2025.
Almost 40 years after entering the industry, she's still active, too, recently contributing the main theme to Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors, a spin-off from the hugely popular roguelike shoot 'em up Vampire Survivors.
Ticket prices for the concert range from ¥8,800 to ¥9,900 depending on the class of seat, with advance pre-sale tickets going on sale from the organisers tomorrow at 10:00 AM JST, as reported by the Japanese website denfaminicogamer.
Other presales from ticket sites (Kyodo Tokyo, Pia, Lawson, and e+) are expected to go live from 10:00 AM JST on July 13th, with general sales expected to start on Saturday, August 22nd.