Naruto: The Symphonic Experience - Behind the Music with Heidi Joosten

We go behind the music of Naruto: The Symphonic Experience with Heidi Joosten. This North American tour brings the iconic anime to life with a full orchestra performing to scenes from the first 220 episodes projected on a cinema screen.

• The show combines a live orchestra with favorite fight scenes and beloved music from the early Naruto series
• Audiences are encouraged to react, cheer, and engage with the performance—not a traditional quiet symphony experience
• The production features a rock band, horns, reeds, and strings playing music by some of the best in the business
• This format highlights Toshio Masuda's music in ways that aren't possible when simply watching the anime on television
• The high-energy fight sequences feature particularly exhilarating music that showcases the musicians' talents
• Fans often attend in cosplay, creating an immersive celebration of the Naruto universe

Check out Naruto: The Symphonic Experience when it comes to your city! Jacksonville fans can see the show on May 4th—find ticket information on the FSCJ Artist Series website.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment.
Wait for it.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Gaming.
Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino.
Yeah, they've got you coveredand all you gotta do is wait for
it.
This is the Wait For it Podcast.

(00:33):
Welcome back to the Wait For itPodcast.
I'm one of your co-hosts today,mr Eric Almighty, to bring you
a special bonus episode to theshow for a conversation with
Heidi Josten.
Our guest today is a Jeff Awardwinning music director,
composer, orchestrator,multi-instrumentalist vocalist

(00:55):
and teacher.
Since 2014, she's collaboratedon over 125 new theatrical,
comedic and concert productionsacross the nation and beyond,
and we're here today to talkabout naruto, the symphonic
experience which launched anorth american tour in february
that is stopping by here injacksonville, florida, on may
4th.

(01:15):
Heidi, thank you so much forjoining me on this episode and
I'm excited to have thisconversation today thank you so
much for having me.
I'm so excited to be talkingwith you about it absolutely,
and if you're a fan of thepodcast, you may already know
this if you're listening.
But for those that don't,naruto is a shonen manga that
started in Weekly Shonen Jumpback in 1999 and concluded in

(01:37):
2014 after 700 chapters.
Many of you know the anime thatbegan airing in 2002 and is one
of the biggest influences onpop culture to this day.
So, heidi, I'd like to startoff by asking what exactly is
the Naruto Symphonic Experience?

Speaker 2 (01:55):
So, like you had said , we're celebrating years of
this being out and reallybringing an experience to our
audiences that is summarizingthe first 220 episodes of Naruto
.
There are over 700 episodes ofthe animated series that we are

(02:15):
summarizing the first 220episodes, providing some of your
favorite fight scenes, with anorchestra that is playing some
of your favorite music from thisexact same time frame from
Naruto, and we are just having ablast getting to see people
coming to the concert in cosplay, coming to have a truly great
time to celebrate hearing thismusic live for the first time.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love to hear that.
And that's exactly what you canexpect out of such a big event
like that, which is exciting,and why it's so exciting to have
you on to tell people about it.
Because, for the first timeever and that's exactly what you
can expect out of such a bigevent like that, which is
exciting, and why it's soexciting to have you on to tell
people about it Because, for thefirst time ever, this is an
opportunity for audiences inmore than 60 cities to see a
live orchestra perform the mosticonic songs and themes from the
Naruto animated series live topicture, as scenes play out on a

(03:03):
full size cinema screen.
So I would like to ask Heidi,what is that live to picture
experience?
What exactly makes that unique?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
So I love working in live to picture, primarily for
the reason that, like I, we, asmusicians on stage, we are, you
know, living, breathing humanbeings who, all you know, have
the same cell phone bills to payas our audience, this type of
music.
Like I had said and like we'retalking about, it's the first
time that we're able to hearthis music performed live.
We want you to come to have agood time like it's a concert.

(03:35):
The word symphonic is in thetitle, but that is more
reflective of the instrumentsthat are on stage and not the
way that we expect our audiencesto behave.
You're coming to this concert,we've got a rock band on stage
with horns, with reeds, withstrings, and we are there to
have a rock and roll good time.
So when you come and you'reseeing the fight scenes play out

(03:57):
, when you're seeing the momentsthat make you sad, when you're
seeing the things that get youexcited, if we do something on
stage that you know gets yougoing, we want you to react, we
want you to cheer, we want youto, you know, cry with us, laugh
with us.
We are here to create a greattime.
And because this happens to be,you know, a super cut of the of
scenes from the first 220episodes.

(04:20):
It's not like we're pressingplay on watching Star Wars.
You know where you see thetitle credits and you go all the
way through the end credits andit's a comprehensive experience
.
This is really a cut of acomprehensive cut to make sure
that we're getting as many beatsas we can without, you know,
playing music for three daysstraight over a weekend, like if

(04:42):
we were to be playing all ofour, all of our episodes.
We are just here to celebrate,celebrate this series, celebrate
Toshio Masuda's music andreally feature some of the best
touring musicians right now, ona content that's never been
heard before.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
That's great, heidi, and I'm going to kind of throw
in a bonus thing here before ourfinal question, just to kind of
ask you, because I really dofind it really interesting, that
this is enhancing theexperience of that music.
When it comes to anime, a lotof times characters are
highlighted, the animation ishighlighted and praised, but

(05:19):
really getting to give thismusic the love and attention
that it deserves, do you feelthat that's something that this
show gives a little bit moreappreciation to, for something
that's maybe underrepresented?

Speaker 2 (05:32):
I would definitely agree with that statement.
A lot of times when you'reseeing music that's been
designed to accompany some sortof a visual aspect you know,
whether it's television or filmor ballet, etc.
Anything of that nature we tendto like, really I don't want to
use the word mute but, like youknow, downplay the music,

(05:53):
because it's just there toenhance.
It's there as an accompanyingfeature to control how your
emotions are feeling.
But when you're actually seeinga guitarist shred a solo in
front of you, it automaticallyheightens and puts a highlight
on the music in ways that wehaven't seen before and gives
you the opportunity to reactdifferently than you probably

(06:13):
did in your living room the veryfirst time you saw this on your
television screen.
So we are truly having a blastbeing able to shine a spotlight
on this music that we've heardbefore, that we've maybe pulled
up on Spotify, but now we'regetting to perform it live.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, I love that answer and it's definitely
something that I think reallylends itself to Naruto and anime
in general.
So, heidi, for my finalquestion, if you could only
point to one thing that you loveabout this show that you
haven't shared already, what isit that audiences can expect
when they purchase their ticketto see this particular

(06:50):
experience?

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh my gosh, the music that's underneath the fight
sequences is genuinely so fun.
I'm up there, so fun, I'm upthere.
I have the best seat in thehouse being able to be on the
podium watching my friends getto just shred every single night
on this music, from this reallyreally high energy baller music
underneath these fightsequences.

(07:12):
There's certain spots in everysingle act, every single moment,
that I really look forward to.
I turn the page, I see it infront of me and I'm like let's
go and our audiences really feelthe same way, which is, you
know, so such a great likeclosing of the feedback loop,
like we're having a great time.
They're having a great time andwe're excited to bring the good
time to Jacksonville.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Absolutely, heidi, and I truly appreciate you
jumping on for this episode.
I know you're getting on thispress tour to really get the
word out there, and if you areinterested in listening to this
episode, you want moreinformation about Naruto, the
symphonic experience, any tourdates and tickets.
Be sure to check out the linksin the show notes of this
episode.

(07:52):
If you are in the Jacksonvillearea, tickets are still
available at the time of thisrecording and you'll be able to
also find that informationthrough the FSCJ Artist Series
website as well.
I really want to thank each andevery one of you for showing
interest in this particularcontent and, with what we're
doing here on the podcast, youcan expect us to be at the show

(08:13):
on May 4th, so we hope to seeyou there.
I'm Eric signing off for thisone and we'll see you next time.
All you have to do is wait forit.
So I heard you're looking for ago-to source for entertainment.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Wait for it.
Gaming, wait for it.
Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Mr.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've
got you covered, and all yougotta do is wait for it.
This is the Wait For it Podcast.