VGM Academy LIVE! 2020 – A 4-day free live virtual conference

30/4/2020 – THURSDAY

• 2:00 – 2:30pm EST – Welcome to VGM Academy LIVE! – With Dan Hulsman, creator of VGM Academy. Music educator and entrepreneur, creator of VGM Academy, the #21DaysofVGM challenge, and your host for VGM Academy Live! Dan will kick things off by talking about the event, what to expect, and how to best enjoy the entire event, and give a brief overview of the day’s sessions. Join me as we kick off the first ever VGM Academy LIVE!

 

• 2:45 – 3:45pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Jason Graves. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Jason Graves! Credits include Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, Moss, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Order: 1886, Dead Space series, and Until Dawn.

 

• 4:00 – 5:00pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Grant Kirkhope. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Grant Kirkhope! BAFTA, ASCAP and IFMCA nominated Composer. Composed scores for Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Banjo-Kazooie, and creator of the immortal DK Rap.

 

• 5:15 – 6:15pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Winifred Phillips. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Winifred Phillips! Composer for Spyder, Assassin’s Creed, God of War, LittleBigPlanet, and The Sims.  Author of the best-selling book: A Composer’s Guide to Game Music.

 

• 8:00 – 8:30pm EST – Performance: Holland Albright. Nothing winds down the day like some beautiful piano music. Join us for a live mini-concert by composer Holland Albright. Holland recently performed a live concert in NYC, and performed on the main stage at PAX East with Austin Wintory and Darren Korb.

 

1/5/2020 – FRIDAY

• 2:00 – 2:15pm EST – Kick-off with Dan Hulsman, VGM Academy. Join Dan for a brief overview of the upcoming sessions for the day!

 

• 2:30 – 3:30pm EST – Workshop: Making your first $1,000 with music, with Steven Melin. Join us for a special workshop with Steven Melin to learn how to start actually making money with your music. Steven is a composer for film, TV, and games, best-selling author of The Family-First Composer, best-selling course creator on Udemy.

 

• 3:45 – 4:45pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Darren Korb. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Darren Korb! Darren is Audio director and composer for SuperGiant Games. Credits include Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, and Hades. Baker of cakes.

 

• 5:00 – 6:00pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Penka Kouneva. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Penka Kouneva! Composer for League of Legends – Legends of Runeterra, Prince of Persia: the Forgotten Sands, multiple VR games, and NASA’s Heroes and Legends exhibit.

 

• 8:00 – 8:30pm EST – Performance/Workshop: Samantha Ballard. During this live performance, Samantha will not only play amazing music for you – she’ll also give you tips for composing/arranging music for the harp. Samantha is a professional harpist, recording artist, and arranger focused on video game music, anime, film and original compositions. She is currently working on an upcoming album of harp arrangements from Octopath Traveller.

 

2/5/2020 – SATURDAY

• 2:00 – 2:15pm EST – Kick-off with Dan Hulsman, VGM Academy. Join Dan for a brief overview of the upcoming sessions for the day!

 

• 2:30 – 3:30pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Inon Zur. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Inon Zur! Credits include The Waylanders, Fallout 76, EverQuest series, Soulcalibur V, Prince of Persia, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, and Fallout series.

 

• 3:45 – 4:45pm EST – Workshop: Composing for Piano, with Sydney Kjerstad. In this workshop, you’ll learn tips about composing for piano for non-piano-players. Sydney is a composer, producer, pianist, and teacher,  community leader of Smart Game Piano – an online community for people who want to learn to play piano through game music.

 

• 5:00 – 6:00pm EST – Performance: Austin Wintory & Angela Bermúdez. Join us for a special collaborative performance, Dialogos: a fusion of speed painting and musical improvisation. Austin’s composition credits include Journey, Pathless, Abzu, Erica, John Wick Hex, the Banner Saga, and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Angela is a painter, sculptor, cosplayer, and performance artist.  Upon discovering the world of speed painting, she formed the duet “Viajeros,” with composer Austin Wintory and the two have been performing all over the world ever since.

 

• 6:15 – 7:15pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Gareth Coker. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Gareth Coker! Credits include Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Ori and the Blind Forest, Darksiders, Minecraft, and ARK: Survival Evolved.

 

3/5/2020 – SUNDAY

• 2:00 – 2:15pm EST – Kick-off with Dan Hulsman, VGM Academy. Join Dan for a brief overview of the upcoming sessions for the day!

 

• 2:30 – 3:30pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Tom Salta. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with composer, producer, and solo artist Tom Salta! Credits include Halo franchise, Tom Clancy franchise, Prince of Persia, Killer Instinct S3, Wolfenstein series, and PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG).

 

• 3:45 – 4:45pm EST – Interview and Q&A: Shota Nakama. Join us for a live interview with composer, producer, and CEO Shota Nakama! Creator of the Video Game Orchestra and CEO of soundtrec, his credits include Code Vein, God Eater series, Kingdom Hearts series, and Final Fantasy series.

 

• 5:00 – 6:00pm EST -Interview and Q&A: Will Roget. Join us for a live interview and Q&A with Will Roget! Credits include Mortal Kombat 11, Call of Duty: WWII, Star Wars: Vader Immortal, Destiny 2: Forsaken, and Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris.

 

• 6:15 – 6:30pm EST – Game Over! with Dan Hulsman, VGM Academy. Join Dan from VGM Academy one more time for some closing comments, thoughts, gratitudes, and maybe a special surprise…?