The LAJS is excited to present The Music of Inon Zur at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 7:00 PM. With his more than 50 emotional and soul-stirring video game scores, Israeli composer Inon Zur takes inspiration from Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Gershwin when creating the music for games played by millions of fans around the world. Zur’s music will take center stage in this special event, featuring suites of Zur’s work in the Fallout series, the Dragon Age series, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, the highly anticipated upcoming game Starfield, and the World Premiere of the concert suite from Syberia: The World Before.
Inon is a longtime friend of the Symphony; his relationship with Maestra Green traces back decades. Read on for the Maestra’s recollection of their many years of friendship and collaboration.
Notes from the Maestra
In 1994, I became the music director for Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue. Soon after, I was introduced to Inon Zur, newly arrived from Israel, by the school’s Judaic music director, Cindy Pailey. Inon was working in the VBS Day School accompanying some of the school’s music programs while simultaneously building his career composing for film and TV. Both of our respective families were very involved at VBS and a quick friendship developed.
A few years later, I was in need of an accompanist for the High Holy Days and so I reached out to Inon; with great enthusiasm, Inon came on board. As a secular Israeli, his knowledge of synagogue music was limited at the time, but as a musician and a student of life he embraced this new challenge with great eagerness. Inon and I developed a close relationship, both musically and personally. We are each other’s greatest fans and throughout the years remained very close, celebrating each other’s achievements.
I had the privilege of conducting Inon’s very first video game, Star Trek: Klingon Academy. Many years later, the LAJS presented some of his award-winning video game music in concert at the FORD Theatres. We have celebrated each other’s children’s B’nai Mitzvot, and shared many family Shabbat dinners together. Ori, his son, played cello in the LAJS during his high school days. Now Ori, a recent college grad, will be joining us on stage at the Soraya as a keyboard/synth player.
The LAJS performs Zur’s “Main Theme” from the game Fallout 4Â at the concert Let’s Play LA at the FORD Theatres.
Most recently, when Inon was scoring his game Syberia: The World Before, he asked me to connect him with Emily Bear, an award-winning pianist/composer I have had the privilege to collaborate with many times. The result was the amazing score for this video game, which is based on a Holocaust survivor who is a pianist. I am thrilled to have the honor of presenting the World Premiere of this gorgeous concert suite.
Tickets are on sale now for The Music of Inon Zur – click the link below to get your tickets today!