Thomas Böcker

Thomas Böcker
Thomas Böcker in 2010
Born	(1977-10-08) October 8, 1977 (age 39) Dohna, Saxony, Germany
Occupation	Producer
Years active	1999—Present

Thomas Böcker (born October 8, 1977) is an award winning German producer. He is most known for his Game Concerts series, initiated in 2003 as Symphonic Game Music Concerts, historical for being the longest running and the first of their kind outside Japan. He produced the first live performance of video game music by the London Symphony Orchestra, and was presented with the national Cultural and Creative Pilots Award by the German Federal Government, which recognises outstanding entrepreneurs within Germany’s cultural and creative industries.

Thomas Böcker spent his childhood growing up in the small mountain town of Lauenstein. Coming from a family of teachers, he developed an appreciation for Classical music from a young age and regularly attended symphonic concerts. Like many others in Europe, he grew up playing the Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga computers. Soon enough, he developed a passion for video game music and became especially fond of Chris Huelsbeck’s works on the Turrican series. Böcker’s love for both video game music and Classical artists would soon come together, as he realised the potential for scores and concerts to feature orchestral game music.

In 2003, Thomas Böcker produced the opening ceremony of the Leipzig Games Convention with the First Symphonic Game Music Concert. The event at the sold-out Gewandhaus concert hall was the first of its kind outside Japan and received ten minutes of standing ovations. His annual follow-up concerts gained even more popular and critical appraise with their numerous innovations, expansive programs, refined performances, and special guest appearances. In conjunction with this work, he brought orchestral game music around the world with leading roles on the highly successful concert tours PLAY! A Video Game Symphony and Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy. He also inspired the use of game music for educational purposes, through creating the series of school concerts Heroes of our Imagination in 2006, with Super Mario Galaxy – A Musical Adventure being its latest instalment in 2010.