Press Start
The Premiere of NYC's First Gamer Symphony
Join us on November 19 at 7pm for our first concert as NYC's community video game orchestra! With covers from some of our favorite video game soundtracks, along selections from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and special arrangements from Chase Bethea.
Press Start Orchestra performs in residency with Rutgers Presbyterian Church. Tickets are available by donation amount of your choice, our suggested donation is $15.​
Press Start Orchestra
Zach Nicely+
Music Director
Alyssa Menes
Guest Conductor
Violins
Eric Shen**
Jasmine Qiang*^^+
Jessica Gehring
Krista Hu
Diane Park^
Cindy Reyes^
Jade Schoolcraft
Ash Toner
Andie Zhou
Violas
Matt Ryan*^^
Vishnu Gottiparthy
Cellos
Madison Dong
Double Basses
Billy Popfinger
Flutes
Hannah Donnelly*
Thomas Lei*
Prashant Kumar^
Vanessa Miller
Piccolo
Hannah Donnelly
Vanessa Miller
Oboes
Alexander Carpenter
Adam Schorr
Krista Martocci
English Horn
Krista Martocci
Clarinets
Lara Kelley+
Jonathan Lee
Alex Ringlein
Bass Clarinet
Lara Kelley+
Contrabass Clarinet
Vince Hoffarth^^
Soprano Saxophone
Vince Hoffarth^^
Alto Saxophones
Aaron Goldin*+
Guy Dellacave
Lara Kelley
Tenor Saxophone
Guy Dellacave
Rhea Jajodia
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Baritone Saxophone
Guy Dellacave
Bassoons
Alice Petre+
Richard Davison
Horn
Helene Ashbrooke
Trumpets
Argan Pagotaisidro*
Jonathan Brunschwig
Adrian Wang
Flugelhorn
Adrian Wang
Trombones
Abegail Delgado
Marina Lehmkuhl
Tuba
Maggie Broughton
Piano
Nacho Ojeda^+
Percussion
Mark Hoffarth*^^
Samuel Calto^^+
Dylan Donohue
Jerry Remig
Tiffany Yong
Additional Staff
Payton Harrison^^+
Jack Huang^
Jesse Lee+
Kimberly Rubel^^
Poi Wong+
** Concert Master
* Section Leader
^^ Staff Leadership
^ Staff Member
+ Orchestrator
Program
Main Theme from Octopath Traveler
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Respite and Sunlight from Fire Emblem: Three Houses
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Selections from Pictures at an Exhibition
Il Vecchio castello "The Old Castle"
Cum mortuis in lingua mortua "With the dead in a dead language"
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Fódlan Winds from Fire Emblem: Three Houses
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Battle Theme I from Octopath Traveler
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Gaur Plain from Xenoblade Chronicles
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On the Beach at Dusk from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
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Legend of Zelda Medley
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All Clear / Staff Roll from Star Fox 64
Yasunori Nishiki
arr. Zach Nicely
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Takeru Kanazaki (et al.)
arr. Jonathan Shaw
ed. Zach Nicely
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Modest Mussorgsky
arr. Maurice Ravel
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Takeru Kanazaki (et al.)
arr. Jonathan Shaw
ed. Zach Nicely
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Yasunori Nishiki
arr. Zach Nicely
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ACE+
arr. Aaron Goldin
ed. Payton Harrison
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Hideki Sakamoto, Keisuke Ito, Ryoma Nakamura, & K. Saito
arr. Samuel Calto
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Koji Kondo
arr. Alice Petre
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Koji Kondo, Hajime Wakai
arr. Poi Wong
Alyssa Menes, guest conductor
- BRIEF PAUSE -
​​Snowy from UNDERTALE
Ruins from UNDERTALE
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Coin of Fate from Final Fantasy VI
Lindi's Deal from Deity Quest
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Remorse from </reality>
Cyber Paradise from </reality>
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A Cyber's World? from DELTARUNE CHAPTER 2
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City of Tears from Hollow Knight
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Main Theme from The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
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Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy
​Toby Fox
arr. Jacob Seaman, Nacho Ojeda
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Nobuo Uematsu
arr. Lara Kelley
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Chase Bethea
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Chase Bethea
arr. Jesse Lee
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Toby Fox
arr. Samuel Calto
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Christopher Larkin
arr. Jasmine Qiang
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Hajime Wakai (et al.)
arr. Payton Harrison
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Mahito Yokota
arr. Jonathan Shaw
ed. Zach Nicely
Featured Game Composer
Chase Bethea
Chase Bethea is a professional multi-award winning video game composer that has been working in the industry for over a decade and is known in the industry as the "Swiss Army knife of video game composition". He has shipped over 25 games thus far, been featured in museums, nationwide magazines and the VGM Real Book. He has given over 45 talks in two years about the music he scores for games and his experiences in the game industry.
Website | Twitter | Twitch | Bandcamp | YouTube
Music Director
Zach Nicely
Zach Nicely is stamping his name in the classical music industry as “the video game music conductor.” He is frequently called as a guest conductor and game music lecturer by ensembles, universities, and high schools across the country. He founded Press Start, a New York orchestra dedicated to programming video game music with classical favorites. He was a finalist for The American Prize in Orchestral Programming in recognition of his inaugural season, which caught the attention of the Mannes School of Music who recruited him to develop such an ensemble for their pre-college program, the Game Orchestra at Mannes Prep.
At home with both multimedia and scores born for the stage, Zach has conducted orchestras across the United States and Japan. He has served as Assistant Conductor with the Litha Symphony Orchestra and Music Director with Killer Queen Opera in New York City. Zach has appeared as a guest conductor with the Advanced Orchestral Conducting Workshop at the University of North Texas and the Tokyo Sinfonia.
Zach actively advocates for the artistic programming of video game music. In 2024 he was invited by the Music and Games (MAG) West conference to lead a panel titled “The Case for VGM in Orchestral Programming”.
About the Orchestra
We are NYC's community video game cover orchestra. The musicians are gamers from all over the city playing cherished music from their favorite games for an audience of gamers and musicians alike!
We were formed in 2020 as a professional orchestra championing the artistic value of video game music (VGM) in the classical music industry. Our first projects were music videos combining traditions of gaming and chamber music, followed by live concerts programming VGM with classical favorites. The concerts combined the themes and pieces of composers like Austin Wintory, Samuel Barber, Edward Grieg, and Lena Raine all on the same program. The first season was recently named a finalist for The American Prize in Orchestral Programming—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award.