Yuzo Koshiro

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Yuzo Koshiro
Yuzo Koshiro at "Play! A Video Game Symphony" in Chicago
Yuzo Koshiro at "Play! A Video Game Symphony" in Chicago
Background information
Born December 12, 1967 (1967-12-12) (age 40)
Origin Hino, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s) Composer, programmer
Instrument(s) Piano
Website Ancient Corp.

Yuzo Koshiro (古代祐三 Koshiro Yūzō?, born December 12, 1967 in Hino, Tokyo) is a Japanese video game music composer.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Koshiro was exposed to music at a very young age, learning to play the piano at age 3. He also received music composition lessons from the well-known composer Joe Hisaishi.

[edit] Career

Koshiro's first composing job was with Nihon Falcom in 1986, where he contributed to the soundtracks of Xanadu Scenario II and Romancia. However, his most well-known Falcom works are his contributions to Sorcerian, Ys I, and Ys II. After Ys II, Koshiro left Falcom.

Following his separation with Falcom, Koshiro became a freelancer, composing music for many other companies. Most notable among these were Sega, where he composed music for The Revenge of Shinobi and the trilogy he's most known for, Streets of Rage, as well as Quintet, where he composed the soundtracks to ActRaiser and ActRaiser 2.

In 1990, Koshiro helped found Ancient Corp., which has contributed to the development of a number of games, such as Beyond Oasis.

His latest work includes music for the acclaimed games Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, Etrian Odyssey, and Etrian Odyssey 2.

He also composed the main theme of the French TV channel Nolife [1].

[edit] Concert performances

A live performance of ActRaiser could be heard in 2004 at the second Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany and in 2005 at the first Chamber Music Game Concert in Leipzig, Germany. Yuzo Koshiro is participating on PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, a symphonic world-tour featuring video game music. He attended the concert on May 27 2006 in Chicago.

On August 23, 2006, his music from The Revenge of Shinobi was performed at the fourth Symphonic Game Concert in Leipzig, Germany, in an arrangement done by him and will be performed again in two concerts in Stockholm, Sweden in 2007 as a part of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony.

On June 15, 2007 and June 16, 2007, Koshiro worked as a disc jockey for selections of his most famous works including the Wangan Midnight- and Streets of Rage series for fans in Singapore at the PLAY! pre-concert events.

It recently was announced that Koshiro arranged music from New Super Mario Bros. for the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany on August 22 2007. He attended the performance and the autograph session afterwards.

[edit] Video games

Other projects include Merregnon Soundtrack - Volume 2, Ten Plants, the Street Fighter Tribute Album (for a M. Bison stage remix), FM Sound Module Maniax, and a guest arranging role on the Pink Sweets soundtrack.

[edit] Discography

  • The Scheme (21 December 1989, Alfa Records, 25A2-8)
  • The Super Shinobi & Works (25 December 1989, Alpha Records, 25A2-53)
  • ActRaiser OST (25 January 1991, Alfa Records, ALCA-105)
  • Misty Blue (21 April 1991, Alfa Records, ALCA-123)
  • Bare Knuckle (Streets of Rage) OST (21 September 1991, Alfa Records, ALCA-181)
  • ActRaiser Symphonic Suite (21 September 1991, Alpha Records, ALCA-182, with the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra)
  • Super Adventure Island (21 January 1992, Alfa Records, ALCA-242)
  • Yuzo Koshiro Early Collection (21 July 1992, Alfa Records, ALCA-328)
  • Bare Knuckle II (Streets of Rage 2) OST (21 January 1993, Alfa Records, ALCA-443, with Motohiro Kawashima)
  • Bare Knuckle III (Streets of Rage 3) OST (24 August 1994, Alfa Records, ALCA-5006, with Motohiro Kawashima)
  • Yuzo Koshiro Early Collection 2nd (1 August 1998, Ancient, PRD-688)
  • Culdcept OST (21 January 1998, First Smile, FSCA-10028, with Takeshi Yanagawa)
  • Streets of Rage 2 OST (1 February 2000, Mars Colony Music, MCM-10106-2, with Motohiro Kawashima, rerelease)
  • Legend 80's "The Scheme Soundtrack" (21 August 2002, Scitron, SCDC-00199, remastered with new tracks)
  • Wangan Midnight OST (4 September 2002, Scitron, SCDC-00188)
  • Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 OST (6 April 2005, King Records, KICA-1361/1362)
  • Capture Chronicle Series "Gain Ground & Crack Down" (24 March 2006, Scitron, SDDV-00031/32)
  • Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 OST (27 September 2007, Marvelous Entertainment, MJCD-20102)

Contributions in:

  • All Over Xanadu (5 July 1987, Apollon Music Industrial Corp., BY30-5170)
  • Romancia Sound Fantasy (21 November 1987, Apollon Music Industrial Corp., BY30-5176)
  • Perfect Collection Ys (5 August 1990, King Records, KICA-1012/1013)
  • Perfect Collection Ys 2 (5 September 1990, King Records, KICA-1014/1015)
  • Perfect Collection Sorcerian Vol. 2 (21 September 1991, King Records, KICA-1037/1038)
  • Perfect Collection Sorcerian Vol. 3 (21 November 1991, King Records, KICA-1039/1040)
  • Great Wall (16 August 1993, Troubadour Records, TTRC-0002)
  • Perfect Collection Ys IV - The Dawn of Ys Volume 1 (23 February 1994, King Records, KICA-1139)
  • Little Princess Puppet Princess of Marl's Kingdom 2 OST (8 March 2000, Toshiba EMI/Future Land, TYCY-10031)
  • Shenmue Chapter 1 - Yokosuka OST (23 March 2000, Future Land, TYCY-10034/10035)
  • Street Fighter Tribute Album (17 December 2003, Suleputer, CPCA-1083)
  • Merregnon Soundtrack - Volume 2 (19 May 2004, Totentanz (Soulfood Music), TOT 23009)
  • Merregnon Soundtrack - Volume 2 (19 January 2005, Dex Entertainment, DECX-0018, rerelease)
  • Namco x Capcom OST (23 August 2005, Suleputer, CPCA-10118)
  • Dance Dance Revolution Festival & Strike Original Soundtrack (15 February 2006, Toshiba EMI, TOCP-64291/64292)

[edit] Trivia

His sister Ayano Koshiro has designed characters and graphics for several games Yuzo has worked on, including the Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckle in Japan) series, Ys and ActRaiser.

[edit] External links