Tales of ELFCORE: A Musical Ode Inspired by World of Warcraft: Classic Hardcore

What happens when a virtual world becomes a second home, but the community that once gave it meaning is gone?

Tales of ELFCORE is an autobiographical solo piano recital born from an unlikely journey through World of Warcraft: Classic Hardcore, where death is permanent. What began as a personal challenge became a story of friendship, survival, and loss.

For Aaron, a professional pianist and avid gamer, World of Warcraft was unfamiliar territory. He entered it as Lyntharia, a Night Elf Hunter, with a simple personal goal: reach the game’s highest level without dying.

Instead, Lyntharia became part of something much larger.

ELFCORE was a community of more than 2,000 players brought together by a shared ambition: to conquer Molten Core, a subterranean lair that demanded the combined efforts of 40 adventurers.

Every step carried a risk, and every friendship the possibility of a final farewell. The dream that united ELFCORE was as fragile as the lives of those who pursued it.

Through music drawn primarily from video games, alongside selections from animation, film, and the classical repertoire, Aaron revisits Lyntharia’s adventures and the rise and fall of the community she called home. Together, music, memoir, and imagery draw audiences into a beautiful yet dangerous world that came to feel like a second life.

Lyntharia would become ELFCORE’s first elf to reach the highest level—and the last to remain. She carries the memories of a community that gave her world its meaning, and the quiet sorrow of having witnessed its end.

This is their story, remembered through music.

https://talesofelfcore.com

Tales of ELFCORE is presented in support of Lifeline, with 50% of proceeds from the concert donated to the organisation. Lifeline provides crisis support and suicide prevention services to people experiencing distress across Australia.

The partnership reflects the concert’s wider themes of connection, loss, memory, and the importance of community.

"Thank you so much to Aaron for supporting Lifeline Australia through the concert on 28th November. We are so grateful for his kind support, raising awareness for suicide prevention and funds to ensure Lifeline can continue to operate 24/7, 365 days a year. The support through this event will help ensure no one must face their toughest moments alone."
— Karina Yewdall, Lifeline Australia

Tales of ELFCORE is a one-hour solo piano recital presented alongside projected visuals and narrative elements that follow the story of Lyntharia and ELFCORE. Its program draws together music from video games, anime and animation, film, and the classical repertoire, using each work as part of a continuous musical narrative.

The performance runs without interval and is designed to be accessible to both World of Warcraft players and audiences with no prior knowledge of the game. Across the program, the music reflects both defining moments in Lyntharia’s own journey and the larger story of ELFCORE’s rise, decline, and eventual end.

1. The birth of ELFCORE

(Never Coming Back — Violet Evergarden)

2. Journey to 60

(Lumière — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

3. First Flight

(Test Drive — How to Train Your Dragon)

4. Suspended Grace at the Cathedral of Light

(Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit — Bach/Kurtág)

5. Slattz’s Last Choice

(Majula — Dark Souls II)

6. Vigiltwo’s Death

(Snow in Summer — NieR Gestalt & Replicant)

7. The Fallen Leaves of Northwatch Keep

(Unforgotten/Never Forget — Halo 2/3)

8. Skeetus’ Sacrifice
(Old Lumiere (Reverence) — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)

9. Tweelala’s Theme
(Shorekeeper’s Theme — Wuthering Waves)

10. The Morning Show of Hapipapi

(Rosalina’s Comet Observatory — Super Mario Galaxy)

11. Meatwad’s Final Act

(Beautiful Song — NieR: Automata)

12. Dittzy’s Departure

(La Vagulette — Genshin Impact)

13. Shobek’s Passage
(To Zanarkand — Final Fantasy X)

14. #HUNTERGANG

(Kick Back — Chainsaw Man)

15. The Loneliness of Lyntharia 

(Song of the Ancients — NieR Gestalt & Replicant)

16. Entering Molten Core
(Radagon’s Theme — Elden Ring)

17. The Shattered Core

(Gwyn: Lord of Cinder — Dark Souls I)

18a. Looking Forwards

(Journey of a Lifetime — Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)

18b. Looking Backwards

(Avid — 86)


19. Epilogue

(How Does a Moment Last Forever — Beauty and the Beast)

1. Tweelala's Theme (Shorekeeper's Theme):
   https://soundcloud.com/lyntharia/tweelalas-theme
   
   

2. The Morning Show of Hapipapi (Rosalina's Comet Observatory):
   https://soundcloud.com/lyntharia/rosalinas-comet-observatory
   
   

3. Meatwad's Final Act (A Beautiful Song):
   https://soundcloud.com/lyntharia/meatwads-final-act

Aaron Chew is an award-winning Canberra-based pianist and PhD graduate of the Australian National University School of Music, where his doctoral research examined the pianism and recorded interpretations of Ferruccio Busoni under the supervision of Emeritus Professor Larry Sitsky.

He completed a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Psychology, was awarded the Fellowship in Music Australia (FMusA), and later completed a Master of Music (Advanced) with First Class Honours and a University Medal.

Aaron’s achievements include First Prize and the Joint People’s Choice Prize at the Whitworth Roach Classical Music Competition (2017); a work-study scholarship from the Golandsky Institute to attend its Summer Symposium at Princeton University, USA (2016); the Dennis Griffin National Piano Masters Scholarship (2015); two-time winner of the Margaret Smiles Accompaniment Prize (2013, 2015); the Iman Nassir Piano Performance Prize (2013); and the Winifred Burston Memorial Prize (2012). Earlier performance highlights include appearances at the Sydney Opera House as part of the NSW Higher School Certificate Encore concerts in 2009 and 2012.

Other professional and artistic endeavours include recording for Michael Dooley’s Australian Landscapes (2025); a three-week doctoral research visit to the Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University, USA (2021); a guest artist appearance at the Australian Music Examinations Board NSW Centenary Concert (2018); and recording Larry Sitsky’s Piano Sonata No. 4, “Sufi Path” (2016). Aaron has also performed for the ACT Musica Viva Series at the Polish Embassy and the Canberra International Music Festival, and participated in masterclasses with Ewa Pobłocka and Roger Woodward.

Alongside performing, Aaron is an AMEB examiner, runs a private piano studio, and works as a Visiting Music Tutor at Canberra Grammar School. Tales of ELFCORE brings together his lives as a classical pianist and long-time gamer.