Press Start Orchestra presents Haunted Halls

Join us on Oct 29 at 7pm for our third concert as NYC's first community video game orchestra!

Press Start's Fall Concert explores the music surrounding some of the most opulent architecture in gaming, like Luigi's Mansion, paired with the finale of Camille Saint-Saëns' "Organ Symphony" used to celebrate the 2024 reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The NYC Otaku Choir joins the orchestra for covers of themes from Castlevania, Deltarune, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl!

This is Press Start Orchestra's first performance at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Tickets are available by donation amount of your choice, our suggested donation is $15.

Who is 'Press Start?'

We are NYC's community video game cover orchestra. The musicians are gamers from all over the city playing cherished music from their favorite games for an audience of gamers and musicians alike!

We were formed in 2020 as a professional orchestra championing the artistic value of video game music (VGM) in the classical music industry. Our first projects were music videos combining traditions of gaming and chamber music, followed by live concerts programming VGM with classical favorites. The concerts combined the themes and pieces of composers like Austin Wintory, Samuel Barber, Edward Grieg, and Lena Raine all on the same program. The first season was recently named a finalist for The American Prize in Orchestral Programming—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award.

Music Director: Zach Nicely

Zach Nicely is stamping his name in the classical music industry as “the video game music conductor.” He is frequently called as a guest conductor and game music lecturer by ensembles, universities, and conferences across the country. He founded Press Start, a New York orchestra dedicated to programming video game music with classical favorites, where he currently serves as Music Director.

Zach was awarded Third Prize in The American Prize in Orchestral Programming—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Press Start’s inaugural season. His work also caught the attention of the Mannes School of Music, who recruited him to develop such an ensemble for their pre-college program, the Game Orchestra at Mannes Prep.

At home with both multimedia and scores born for the stage, Zach has conducted orchestras across the United States and Japan. He has served as Assistant Conductor with the Litha Symphony Orchestra and Music Director with Killer Queen Opera in New York City. Zach has appeared as a guest conductor with the MAGFest Orchestra, Awesöme Orchestra Collective, Temple Beit HaYam Choir, and VGM CON Orchestra Clinic.

Zach actively advocates for the artistic programming of video game music. He was invited to lead a panel titled “The Case for VGM in Orchestral Programming” at the 2025 Super MAGFest and 2024 MAGWest conferences. His essay “Video Game Music: A Connection Beyond the Controller” was published in the Lexia Undergraduate Journal in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication by the first unanimous vote of the journal’s editorial committee. He founded the Press Start Publishing company to fill the gap of properly licensed sheet music currently preventing most orchestras from performing this genre of contemporary classical music.