Interview conducted by San Jose Mercury News.

It's the intersection of pop culture and high culture: video game music performed live by an orchestra. That's the attraction Monday at Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, when Symphony Silicon Valley will present the latest in a trendy series of concerts using music from "Final Fantasy" games. This is the third such event, following sold-out performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic last year and the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra last month. We recently discussed the signififance of this cultural merger in a phone conversation with Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of the "Final Fantasy" soundtracks, and Ichiro Otobe, president of the U.S. division of the games' publisher, Square Enix. Uematsu used a translator:

San Jose Mercury News ("S"): Is this concert just for video game fans?
Mr. Uematsu ("U"): I have no intention of limiting the audience to gamers. But since these are the first concerts in a new music genre, the first group of fans will be the gamers. I don't think the concert will be enough to reach a broader audience. In Japan, the "Final Fantasy" music is used for TV shows, and many audiences don't even realize it's the "Final Fantasy" music. If this kind of approach were taken in the States as well, there would be potential to expand the audience.

S: There's a hope that the "Final Fantasy" concerts will interest more young people in other kinds of symphony performances. Is that realistic?
U: I do believe that this is a great opportunity for orchestras to expand their audience base to younger fans who are not familiar with orchestral music. From our end, we'd like to appeal to orchestral music fans with our products.

S: What other video game music do you admire?
U: The work of Koichi Sugiyama, the composer for the "Dragon Quest" series. He was the very first one to arrange his game music using orchestras to create concerts for fans and for children.

S: You are said to have been influenced by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Simon & Garfunkel. Are there composers or performers you would like to collaborate with?
U: Those are my idols, and they remain my idols forever. I have no one particular in my mind whom I want to collaborate with. But I'm not eliminating the possibility. If the opportunity were given, there are people I could enjoy working with - Elton John, for example.

S: These concerts use video screens to display game footage. Should music in general be more of a multimedia experience?
U: My personal opinion is that I don't think the images are really necessary for the music. People can enjoy the music in a true sense by listening to the live performance.

S: Are the "Final Fantasy" concerts being recorded, and are there plans for any kind of release on CD or DVD?
U: Not at this time. We're not recording this particular performance, but I don't deny the possibility in the future.