Mario and Luigi hats dot the stage. A conductor waves the baton in a themed blazer. Large crescendos of the Super Mario Bros. theme echoed last May through the Maltz Performing Arts Center at Case Western Reserve University. The Video Game Symphony, based in Kent, has been playing popular tunes from games like these since being founded in 2023.
The group’s founders, Jaclyn Kurtz and Andrew Keller, met while pursuing graduate degrees at Kent State University’s School of Music. The two classical musicians bonded over another genre: scores from video games. Wanting to share the music they love to a larger audience, the two founded the Video Game Symphony last summer, currently practicing out of University Church on East Summit Street.
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