Cultural DistrictClick here to go back to the home page

Andrew Keller is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Music Director of the Video Game Symphony, one of the few orchestras in the world dedicated exclusively to the art form of video game music. A composer, arranger, conductor, and all-around visionary, Keller has devoted much of his career to the music of video games and other visual media.

Keller co-founded the Video Game Symphony in 2023 with Jaclyn Kurtz, transforming a lifelong passion for video game music into an ensemble committed to bringing the genre to the concert stage. As Music Director, he oversees the orchestra’s artistic vision and has created numerous original arrangements for the ensemble, including large-scale symphonic works based on music from The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and other landmark game franchises. In 2026, he further expanded the organization’s artistic reach with the launch of the Video Game Symphony Jazz Band.

Keller is also the Founder and Music Director of the Cinematic Symphony Orchestra and Press Play Orchestra, having engineered the creation of three sister orchestras united by a common mission to celebrate the music of film, video games, television, and anime. Under his leadership, these ensembles have collectively performed at some of Northeast Ohio’s most celebrated venues, including Severance Music Center, Playhouse Square, Akron Civic Theatre, and the Maltz Performing Arts Center.

He currently serves as a Professor of Music at Kent State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition in 2019.

Keller’s own musical journey began with the video game scores he grew up loving. Inspired by the music of Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, he taught himself to play piano—an early passion that ultimately helped shape his career.

Today, that journey has come full circle as Keller brings the music that first inspired him from the screen to the concert stage.

Lorenzo Lopez is an accomplished musician and conductor known for his dynamic leadership and passionate musicianship. He currently serves as Principal Conductor of the Video Game Symphony and also works frequently with the CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, where he has distinguished himself through his engaging approach to both programming and performance. Most recently, he conducted a program with the Cleveland Ballet. Lopez has also held academic and conducting positions as a lecturer for the Symphonic and String Orchestras at Purdue University and as a Conducting Fellow with the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra.

Lopez’s career has included significant collaborations with some of the world’s foremost conductors, including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Cristian Măcelaru, Marin Alsop, and James Ross. He is a recipient of The Respighi Prize with the Chamber Orchestra of New York, an honor that led to his acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall. He was also named a National Finalist in The American Prize in Conducting.

Lopez is deeply committed to fostering an inclusive musical community and inspires students and colleagues alike to explore the transformative power of sound. His passion for classical music extends beyond the concert hall, as he works to promote access and opportunity for Latino and other historically underrepresented communities in the classical music world, believing that a more diverse musical landscape fosters a stronger, more unified society.

Andrew Perkins currently serves as Associate Conductor of the Video Game Symphony and Principal Conductor of the Press Play Orchestra. His musical journey began at the age of eight, when he started learning clarinet from his father. Since then, he has performed as a clarinetist and bass clarinetist with numerous ensembles throughout Northeast Ohio. An active chamber musician and orchestral performer, Perkins is particularly passionate about championing music by composers from underrepresented communities.

Perkins founded the Serenity Chamber Players and Chorale as an outreach ensemble for his church and has since led the group in more than 30 programs of sacred and classical music throughout Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia. He also created Serenity’s Reimagined Masterworks series, which presents chamber ensemble arrangements of major works from the classical repertoire, including Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

Perkins has served as a choir director since 2010 and was appointed Principal Conductor of the Press Play Orchestra for its inaugural 2025–26 season. He has served as Associate Conductor of the Video Game Symphony since 2024. In 2026, he participated in a conducting workshop at Kent State University under the guidance of Maestros Israel Getzov, Isaac Terceros, and Carl Topilow.

Outside of his musical activities, Perkins is an active member of his church, where he teaches Sunday School and leads congregational worship. He and his lovely wife, Hannah, have three sons. An avid Cleveland sports fan, he also follows professional darts and rugby. Perkins holds a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Connecticut and is an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

88bit is an electrifying pianist known for performing virtuosic note-for-note piano arrangements of classic video game soundtracks, many from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. He is one of the only pianists in the world to publicly perform some of these early game soundtracks, many of which have never been released outside of the games they’re in. By acoustically recreating early electronic music (music never intended to be performed by humans), 88bit stretches the limits of traditional classical piano playing while bringing video game music to audiences that might never have otherwise heard the music.

88bit first started recording and performing in 2017 and has played at major events including GDC, the Game Audio Network Guild Awards, PAX, MAGFest, the Mensa National Gathering, NeoSonic Fest, Classic Game Fest, and many others. He has performed music by and for legendary video game composers including David Wise (Donkey Kong Country) and Takashi Tateishi (Mega Man 2), whose respective series have sold millions of copies worldwide.

88bit is also a frequent guest artist with the Video Game Symphony, where his signature performances bring the sounds of classic gaming from the console to the concert stage.