Classic FM to air 'world's first' dedicated video game music show

Classic FM has announced that it will air its first radio show dedicated to symphonic video game music later this year, as part of its 25th birthday celebrations. The show, which will enjoy a six-week run, will also be a world first.

"Fourteen years ago, Classic FM became the first station to broadcast a weekly national radio programme dedicated to film music," a statement read. "Now, we're launching the UK's first weekly radio series dedicated to symphonic video game music."

The first show will air on Saturday 22 April from 9pm to 10pm.

Composer Jessica Curry, who won a Bafta Game Award in 2016 for her work on The Chinese Room's Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, will host the show. On Twitter she said: "This is genuinely one of the most exciting things ever for me and I hope you'll all tune in!

She also thanked her followers for their congratulations.

The games industry has hoped for years that such a show would one day be made. Video game music has been a hotbed for excellence and innovation for years and has every right to air alongside the world's film scores and other classical music.

In recent years the closest a video game soundtrack has come to mainstream recognition was Austin Wintory's Grammy nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category for his superb score for thatgamecompany classic Journey.

That said, what does mainstream mean anyway? Live concert performances of music from The Legend of Zelda, Silent Hill and Skyrim have all been big global hits over the past few years.

Classic FM also outlined further plans for its 25th birthday, including a partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Society to commission new music, a live music month in April, a concert on 7 September and a revamped website.

Here are some select tracks (both symphonic and not) from recent video game soundtracks, just because.

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