After the reveal of Final Fantasy VII Revelation at Summer Game Fest last Friday, I am eagerly siphoning up the lifestream all things Final Fantasy VII. In the meantime, Square Enix has a few events in store. For fans in New York, AWR Music brings the Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy concert series to Carnegie Hall.
And the Knicks’ wins aren’t the only good thing coming to the Big Apple. Legendary longtime Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu will attend the NYC performances on June 12th and 13th. Both will take place at the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.
As for performers, the NYC concerts will feature vocalists Amanda Achen (Final Fantasy XIV), RIKKI (Final Fantasy X), Xiao (Nobuo Uematsu con TIKI SHOW), and Loren Allred (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth). While some of these performers will appear in the Distant Worlds concerts in other cities, New York hosts them all. The two performances at Carnegie Hall celebrate Nobuo Uematsu and his orchestrations in particular.
These special celebratory performances will also feature mezzo-soprano Leah Wool, tenor Ben Reisinger, and bass Aleksey Bogdanov. Philip Hartshorn will serve as narrator with Arnie Roth conducting. The performances will feature orchestrations from various Final Fantasy games picked by Uematsu himself. These include the opera from Final Fantays VI, among others.
Allred is the major surprise guest for these two concerts. The Greatest Showman singer will reprise her performance of No Promises to Keep, the Aerith-inspired anthem from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. As someone who heard Allred perform the piece at last year’s Rebirth concert, I can affirm it is absolutely incredible to hear performed live.
Not in New York? Not to worry. The 2026 Distant Worlds series will continue on to Denver, CO, Orlando, FL, San Diego, CA, and Melbourne, Australia throughout the summer. It will then resume later in the year. You may find the full list of dates and performers here.
As for the all-star lineup at Carnegie Hall, tickets are going fast but still available for tomorrow, June 12th and Saturday, June 13th at time of writing. You may get tickets for Distant Worlds for June 12th here and for June 13th here.
Source: Distant Worlds and Carnegie Hall
