Yoko Shimomura

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Yoko Shimomura
Yoko Shimomura.png
Born 19 October 1967 (Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan)
Japanese name 下村 陽子
Gender Female
Role Composer
Arranger
Muscian
Contributions Xenoblade Chronicles
Future Redeemed

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese composer and producer of video game and soundtrack music. She was a composer for Xenoblade Chronicles. Some of her tracks from Xenoblade Chronicles were eventually used in Future Redeemed.

Biography[edit]

Shimomura was born on the 19th of October, 1967 in Hyogo prefecture, Japan. She had an interest for music at a young age, having begun playing the piano at the age of 5[1]. Later on in her life Shimomura attended Osaka College of Music and as a student learning piano, she got hooked on playing Super Mario Bros.. Her teacher took notice and said that she should get into that field if she liked games so much[2].

Up until that point she never gave the games industry the slightest thought. She graduated as a piano major in 1988 and in the following year she would get her official start in the industry.

She worked for video game companies like Capcom (1988–1993) and Square (1993–2002) and composed substantial soundtracks for games like Street Fighter II, Super Mario RPG, and Kingdom Hearts.[3] Yoko Shimomura and Tetsuya Takahashi both worked at Square, they knew of each other but never worked directly[4]. She would then become a freelance composer after leaving Square in 2003.

Shimomura contributed to the Xeno series as a composer for Xenoblade Chronicles. When she was first shown the game, she was overwhelmed by the vastness of its scale and thought the visuals were incredibly appealing. After reading the scenario, she was encouraged to create music that would match the emotions and live up to the scale and ambition of the game[5]. This was also a chance for her to experiment with sounds that don't normally appear in her work[6]. Her music worked with the different atmosphere Takahashi wanted to create for this title.

Relevance to the Xeno series[edit]

Xenoblade Chronicles[edit]

Future Redeemed[edit]

Yoko Shimomura 25th Anniversary LIVE -THANKS!-[edit]

Yoko Shimomura 25th Anniversary LIVE -THANKS!-[7] was a live concert of Shimomura's works that was held on the 10th and 11th of February, 2014. One piece from Xenoblade Chronicles was performed:

Yoko Shimomura 30th Anniversary ORCHESTRA CONCERT -THANKS Again!!-[edit]

Yoko Shimomura 30th Anniversary ORCHESTRA CONCERT -THANKS Again!!-[8] was a live concert of Shimomura's works that was held on the 19th of October, 2019. Several pieces from Xenoblade Chronicles was performed:

External links[edit]

References[edit]