Paul Romero live 2020 - Poland and Russia concerts

Our dear maestro, mr. Paul Anthony Romero, is coming to both Poland and Russia this year to play his amazing music from various Heroes games.


The polish concerts in Warsaw, Poland  is just around the corner and will consist of two concerts played on February the 25th at 17.00 and 20.00 respectively. The concerts will be played with Heroes Orchestra, which is a Polish Orchestra dedicated to playing and singing Heroes music. You can check out some of their amazing covers on their YouTube channel here.

As a bonus, you might be lucky to meet famous H3SW developers Uhm and yours truly at the 17.00 concert

Tickets for February 25th, 17.00:Here
Tickets for February 25th, 20.00:Here

Paul Romero will also be playing eleven concerts in Russia from the end of May to the middle of June. The concerts will take place at various cities across Russia, so hopefully there is a concert close to everyone in the great land Paul will be accompanied by an orchestra and chorus from the Cinema and Game Music Orchestra. The schedule is as follows:

• 26th May: Vladivostok
  
• 29th May: Novosibirsk
  
• 31th May: Krasnoyarsk
  
• 3th June: Novosibirsk
  
• 6th June: Kazan
  
• 9th June: Yekaterinburg
  
• 11th June: Moscow
  
• 14th June: Krasnodar
  
• 16th June: Rostov-on-Don
  
• 18th June: Saint Petersburg
  
• 19th June: Moscow
  

More information and tickets can be found here.

I'm happy for you and Uhm:^D:
Is there sometimes "new songs" in theses concerts?

GodRage wrote:

I'm happy for you and Uhm:^D:
Is there sometimes "new songs" in theses concerts?

We are some lucky guys indeed

Well, I have been fortunately enough to attend three concerts with Paul before and the selection of themes has changed much every time. Earlier he used to play themes from across the series (a few from H1, lots from H2-H5, and some from H6-H7), but it seems he has moved towards mostly H3 themes with some themes from H2 and H4, but rarely plays themes other than those, which to me is a shame as there are gems all across the series. I think this is a demand from the organizers as they most likely want the most recognized themes which is mostly from H3. When Paul has picked himself, he selects themes from nearly all the game, just see this amazing video:


As far as I know, no "new" themes which don't belong to a Heroes game has been played, but the selection changes from time to time

Hehehe lucky Heroes
Because there is no new themes in the concert, the public is probably fulfilled with nostalgic Heroes.

GodRage wrote:

Hehehe lucky Heroes
Because there is no new themes in the concert, the public is probably fulfilled with nostalgic Heroes.

Haha, yes, that is very much the case

Paul Romero Warsaw concert on the 25th of February

I was lucky I had time to go to Warsaw to attend the first concert Paul was giving with Heroes Orchestra. I took the bus from Denmark to Berlin and then directly to Warsaw with another bus which took 20 hours, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. On the day of the concert I met with Uhm and his brother and the three of us went to the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio.



The concert started with just Heroes Orchestra playing and singing the “Good” theme from H3, which was very nostalgic. Then the Orchestra continued with other theme as H3 and H4 Stronghold, H4 Nature and H4 order and even Cove from HotA! Then Paul Romero appeared and played the NWC intro and H3 main menu theme along the Orchestra. Paul played a lot of classic themes as Necropolis, Inferno and Fortress from H3 as well as the Win Scenario theme from H2/H3. It was all really well done thanks to both Paul, maestro Alberski and the orchestra of course. The addition of vocals and some changes in the used instruments give very interesting sounding music, which is on one hand very recognizable, but on the other different from the themes heard in-game. Fortunately, you don’t have to take my word for it as HO is so awesome that they live streamed the entirety of both concerts, which means we all can have a listen to them:




I actually haven’t heard the second concert yet, but I have been told it was just as good (if not better!) than the first and that saxophonist Brock Summers (played in H2 and H4 soundtrack) appears to bring in some sweet tunes. After the first concert Uhm, his brother and I went to play some H3SW and had a great time.




Now, the day after the concert Heroes Orchestra had arranged a meet-and-greet session with Paul at the Chopin University of music. I was once again lucky enough to attend and went for 1,5 hours of questions asked to Paul from fans and even maestro Alberski, who was there too. A lot of good questions were asked, and Paul was very kind to give comprehensive answers. To young musicians/composers Paul explained that inspiration could come from everywhere and when one got a melody, a lot of experimentation with playing it differently should be done. That way, it is possible to compose beautiful music. Also, you should think what you are creating is good, if not, then probably others won’t like it as well. Paul gave an example of changing a melody to different styles by making the H2 grass theme more dramatic.



Paul was also challenged to switch the scale from minor to major to make it sound happy and cherish! This can be heard here (sorry that I cannot hold back my laughter )


Paul also played a short medley of H2 Sorceress, H5 Academy and H4 Academy/Order.


I asked Paul about the Heroes series celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and how it has been for him. He said that it has been an interesting journey and that all the music he and Rob made for each game was different from the previous, which is very clear I you compare H3 and H4 music for instance. He also told a bit about his and Rob Kings collaboration, how they met, and Rob got him to compose the music for H1 in a couple of weeks. Their collaboration has been going on for so long that every time they meet to work, they almost always know what to do and understand what each other mean (almost like an old married couple). I also asked Paul if he and Rob was responsible for remixes of older themes appearing in H6 (as a tribute to MM franchise 25th anniversary). Paul told me that Rob and he didn’t have anything to do with it and it was given as a task for other people. Paul and Rob were upset about this and which reminds one of the problems known from H6 (at one-point Rob King declared that they wouldn’t be making music for Heroes anymore, which they fortunately did). Paul was of course also asked what his favorite theme is, and he has a very hard time picking one. He explained it as being forced to pick a favorite among your children, but he still said that he was particularly glad for the rather unknown Zahir’s theme from H5 ToE. Paul even seemed to give it a go on the piano when he arrived home.


Paul also revealed some big news regarding the future of Heroes as he told us he had contact with Jon Van Caneghem and that he is interested in returning to Heroes!!! Paul claimed that it was indeed a wish for Jon to work on the next Heroes game, but that he would have to acquire the license of course. I was very surprised to hear such news and definitely hope it comes true, but time will tell.

All in all, a great trip for a great concert, talking with Mr. Romero and of course meeting up with dear Uhm and playing some H3SW! I also got the see some of the beautiful old town of Warsaw which looks 400 years old but is only 50 dues to it being built up from the ground by the Polish people following the second world war. As always, the food in Poland is great and I got to taste some nice drinks (from Uhm’s talented brother!) and have some solid and tasty food in a milk bar. Big thanks to Uhm for taking his time to meet with me! It was great seeing you again dear friend

P.S. I also got this nice picture of dear Paul on the beautiful streets of Old Town Warsaw

Thank you Sir Albe for your post!

Sir Albe wrote:

2nd concert - I will copy here the H2 related things from the pinned comment of the video :

Youtube pinned comment wrote:

54:33 - Improvisation by Paul Anthony Romero and David Wurczel

Improvisation from the I part consists of: Hope (H4), Sorceress (H2), Academy (H5), Grass Theme (H2).
Complete list of pieces used in Terrain Suite is provided by the Orchestra's bassoonist in his response to this comment.
The piano piece played by Maestro right after H2 Warlock is H1 Barbarian!

The improvisation lasts 6 mins.

Sir Albe wrote:

Paul also revealed some big news regarding the future of Heroes as he told us he had contact with Jon Van Caneghem and that he is interested in returning to Heroes!!! Paul claimed that it was indeed a wish for Jon to work on the next Heroes game, but that he would have to acquire the license of course. I was very surprised to hear such news and definitely hope it comes true, but time will tell.

April fools hard spotted! I didn't know that Enroth's culture had such thing.

You are welcome! I am glad you liked it The themes from the second concert sounds so good!! Many of my favorites, but I am still saving a bit it for a nice time

GodRage wrote:

Sir Albe wrote:

Paul also revealed some big news regarding the future of Heroes as he told us he had contact with Jon Van Caneghem and that he is interested in returning to Heroes!!! Paul claimed that it was indeed a wish for Jon to work on the next Heroes game, but that he would have to acquire the license of course. I was very surprised to hear such news and definitely hope it comes true, but time will tell.

April fools hard spotted! I didn't know that Enroth's culture had such thing.

I see I actually posted this on April 1st, but Paul told me this on 26th of February, so I swear he wasn't joking One thing is Paul knowing JVC and talking with him on and off, but what I am more uncertain about is if and how JVC will get back to Heroes. Can he buy the license back or will it be a spiritual successor? Paul claimed he was going for the license, but even though Ubi is not profiting too well on MM franchise anymore I still believe it would be a difficult thing to obtain, but it would be amazing with a Heroes game by JVC

Ehhhh Not an april fool!!?
It is a "breaking news"!!
But I am not sure they could make a better atmosphere than the one from Heroes 2.
Especially if 3D comes into the game...

Agree, it is hard to say if it is possible to create a modern version with classic Heroes gameplay which has that right Heroes feeling to it. Also I guess we can't be sure that if JVC created a new HoMM game it would be the dream game we would expect.