Press Start

Press Start is a New York City-based video game music orchestra, producing and streaming concerts in the city and worldwide. Wielding an instrument in one hand and a game controller in the other, Press Start performs music from popular video games alongside symphonic classics. We defy expectations and are leading the charge in bringing gamers and symphony-goers together. Our core values are supporting local musicians through equitable hiring, revamping the classical music canon with energy and originality, and playing video game music that captures the hearts of players from their first playthrough.

Press Start Orchestra

The Premiere of NYC's First Gamer Symphony

Rutgers Presbyterian Church

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.

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.<a href="https://chasebethea.com/" title="https://chasebethea.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/chasebethea" title="https://twitter.com/chasebethea" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/gamercomposer" title="https://www.twitch.tv/gamercomposer" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Twitch</a> | <a href="https://chasebethea.bandcamp.com/" title="https://chasebethea.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Bandcamp</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ChaseBethea" title="https://www.youtube.com/@ChaseBethea" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a>

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”.

Who is 'Press Start?' 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.

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