Chris Huelsbeck | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Hülsbeck |
| Born | 2 March 1968 |
| Origin | Kassel, West Germany |
| Genres | Electronica, video game music |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Website | Official website |
Christopher Hülsbeck (born 2 March 1968), known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer.[1][2] He gained popularity for his work on game soundtracks for The Great Giana Sisters and the Turrican series.
Huelsbeck's music career started at age 17, when he entered a music competition in the German 64'er magazine, taking first prize with his composition "Shades".[3][4] He took a job in music production with the company Rainbow Arts.[4]
In 1986, Huelsbeck released the SoundMonitor program for Commodore 64 computer. The program was released as a type-in listing in the German computer magazine 64'er. This program, featuring the idea of notation data rolling from down to up, is assumed[5] to have a significant influence on Karsten Obarski's Ultimate Soundtracker (1987) which was a starting point for the still continuing tradition of tracker music programs.[6]
Huelsbeck has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana Sisters. He is best known for the soundtracks to the Turrican series of games.
He also created a music replay routine for the Amiga called TFMX — "The Final Musicsystem eXtended", which features more musically-oriented features than rival Soundtracker, such as logarithmic pitch-bends, sound macros and individual tempos for each track.[citation needed]
His music from Apidya, Turrican II, Turrican 3 and The Great Giana Sisters was performed live at the Symphonic Game Music Concert series in Leipzig, Germany between 2003 and 2007, conducted by Andy Brick. Huelsbeck's music from Apidya was thus part of the first game concert outside Japan in 2003.[7]
On 23 August 2008, his music was performed at Symphonic Shades, a concert devoted exclusively to his work. For the first time ever in Europe, an orchestral concert was dedicated to a game composer and broadcast live on the radio.[8] The WDR Radio Orchestra and a choir performed classics such as The Great Giana Sisters, Turrican, R-Type and others in Cologne, Germany under the direction of Arnie Roth.[9] On 19 March 2009, the concert Sinfonia Drammatica at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden was announced, with Arnie Roth conducting the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The event took place on 4 August 2009 and combined performances of Huelsbeck's Symphonic Shades with excerpts from Drammatica by Yoko Shimomura.[10]
