A Musical Odyssey with Zelda & Mario Summer 2025
From the enchanted forests of Zelda to the underground chambers of Hollow Knight, to the lush planets of Super Mario Galaxy and the meditative dunes of Journey, the Video Game Orchestra gives us a musical odyssey in which nature becomes breath, movement and memory. These virtual worlds are brought to life on stage, reminding us how, in their own way, video games interact with the living world.
Artists
Orchestre de Jeux Vidéo
Jonathan Dagenais, conductor
Program
Toru Minegishi, Asuka Ota, Koji Kondo, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (arr. Camille Frappier-Fortin) (6 min)
Toby Fox, Undertale (arr. Alexandre Choinière) (9 min)
Christopher James Larkin, Hollow Knight (arr. Jérémie Desaulnier) (7:45 min)
Jun Chikuma, Faxanadu (arr. Jonathan Dagenais) (9:40 min)
Gareth Coker, Ori and the Blind Forest (arr. Camille Frappier-Fortin) (7:20 min)
Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo, Super Mario Galaxy (arr. Laura Intravia) (9:15 min)
Orchestre de Jeux Vidéo
L’Orchestre de Jeux Vidéo is a wind orchestra founded in 2008 and dedicated solely to music from video games. As a non-profit organization, the OJV’s mission is to give its musicians the opportunity to perform a unique repertoire in a high-quality musical environment, and to make orchestral music accessible to the general public.
Jonathan Dagenais
conductorJonathan Dagenais is a renowned conductor, composer and music educator who currently teaches conducting at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, where he also directed the McGill Wind Orchestra. In addition, he teaches composition at the Université de Sherbrooke. Alongside his academic duties, he maintains a busy career as a composer and arranger for wind orchestras. His works have been frequently performed and recorded, and feature in the repertoires of various North American festivals. His compositions are published worldwide by Alfred Music, Eighth Note Publications, Hafabra Music and TRN Music Publisher Inc.
A highly active conductor, Jonathan Dagenais has co-founded and been musical director of the Orchestre à Vents Non Identifié (OVNI) since 2005, a Montreal-based ensemble dedicated to collective listening, musical cohesion, sonic refinement and artistic exploration and humour. He has also conducted the Orchestre de Jeux Vidéo (OJV) since 2015, a natural association for him, as he has long been passionate about the videogame universe. Since 2019, he has been the conductor of the Ottawa Pops Orchestra (OPO) and headed the Cercle Philharmonique de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (CPSJ) from 2012 to 2022.
Deeply involved in music pedagogy, Mr. Dagenais regularly participates as an adjudicator and clinician in more than 35 North American festivals and competitions. Since 2017, he has also served as general and artistic director of MusicFest Québec, where he also acts as chief adjudicator. Every year, he is invited to conduct honorary ensembles and teaches at summer music camps. In 2013, he was selected to conduct the National Youth Band of Canada, the country’s most prestigious honorary band.
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