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During the last weekend in April, I drove seven hundred fifty miles from Post Falls, Idaho to attend my first
Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert, which was held in the exquisite
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. The concert featured the spectacular talents of the
Oregon Symphony with special attendance of the
Pacific Youth Choir in supporting vocals, led by
Mia Hall Miller as artistic director. Mia was introduced and greeted with applause from the crowd, but it was nothing to the thunder of hoots, hollers and cheers from fans when
Arnie Roth finally entered stage.
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Arnie delivered an introduction about
Distant Worlds to the audience and included some brief history on the progression of the performance since its beginning in 2007. He kept his speech short; perhaps he could sense the anticipation of the crowd waiting for the event to begin. The orchestra opened with the aptly chosen
Prelude to set the tone for the evening, which was immediately followed by the intensely powerful swell of
Liberi Fatali (Final Fantasy VIII). Once
Liberi Fatali concluded, Arnie initiated the
Victory Fanfare jingle, which was received
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