Jason Michael Paul
Jason Michael Paul is an American-born concert producer, promoter, and entrepreneur. Paul produced “Dear Friends”, “More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy”, PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, the 25th Anniversary Legend of Zelda, and Nintendo's Legend Of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses,[1][2] which toured 2012-2013. He has worked with co-producers and contributors such as Luciano Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, and video game manufacturer Nintendo.
Early career
Paul graduated from San Francisco State University in 1999 with a degree in Social Science. After graduating, he worked in San Francisco in live-event production. He interned with the Kenwood Group and then worked for Richanbach and Associates. He specialized in branding and environmental design and worked with Sony PlayStation as a project manager for the company’s first interactive store, producing various in-store events, promotions, video game launches, parties and trade show booths. Richanbach was acquired by Addwater Inc., where Paul continued as an associate producer, working on many live events and concerts with musicians such as Elton John and Michael McDonald. At Addwater, Paul brought in the Square Enix account and produced product launches and press events, including work on the Final Fantasy series.
In 2003, Paul moved to Los Angeles to open his own production company, Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc., where he worked in environmental design and branding for corporate and entertainment clients. During this time in Los Angeles, Paul met and developed a partnership with Hungarian entrepreneur Tibor Rudas and became the production manager for the successful Pavarotti & The Three Tenors concert tours. In this period, Paul also studied Japanese language and culture, developing an interest that would lead to the creation of Dear Friends: Music From Final Fantasy.
Video Game Concerts
The initial Dear Friends concert took place on May 10, 2004, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and was performed by the LA Philharmonic Orchestra and the LA Master Chorale; Miguel Harth-Bedoya served as conductor. The concert featured music from the video game franchise and was the first of it kind in North America to feature visuals during the performance.
The show was developed into a 12-city concert tour from 2004-2005, with Arnie Roth as conductor. During the tour, Paul developed and produced a single-event show, More Friends: Music From Final Fantasy on May 16, 2005. The event, also conducted by Arnie Roth, was held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and was made into a live-recording, released on Sony.
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony
In 2006, based on the success of the "Dear Friends" tour, Paul created "PLAY! A Video Game Symphony".[3] The series, played by live orchestras and featuring a catalog of music and video from blockbuster game franchises, premiered on May 27, 2006 at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago with Arnie Roth as conductor. The premiere featured performances by legendary composers Koji Kondo, Angela Aki, and Akira Yamaoka with composers Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Jeremy Soule in attendance.
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses
On June 7, 2011, at the Nintendo's E3 press event, Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc. brought Creative Producer Jeron Moore, Music Director Chad Seiter, and their respective teams on board to produce a four-minute overture spanning 25 years of Zelda music accompanied by images from the same period. After this performance, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo announced that an orchestral CD would accompany the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, with a 25th Anniversary concert series to be performed in Tokyo, Los Angeles,[4] and London, all of which were to be produced by Jason Michael Paul Productions Inc (w/ the exception of Tokyo, produced separately by Nintendo Co., Ltd.). Evolving from the 25th anniversary concert series, "The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses" kicked off in January 2012 in Dallas,[5] toured the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe, concluding its run in December of 2013.
Coffee
Coffee Bar
Jason Michael Paul and Luigi DiRuocco, two Alameda natives and childhood friends who reconnected while living in San Francisco in 2006, opened Coffee Bar in late 2007. The shop combines a passion for coffee with useful, community-oriented spaces. Coffee Bar opened another location in SF's Financial District (FiDi) and has plans to open several more.
Coffee Cultures
Drawing on the success of Coffee Bar, and working with Counter Culture Coffee, Paul founded Coffee Cultures in the Standard Oil Building on Bush Street, also in the FiDi.
References
Further reading
- Turtle, Michael (June 20, 2007). "Symphony of video games". Australian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved December 20, 2011. External link in
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