Bristol composer starts choir to sing video game music

More than 1,000 people have signed up for the choir so far

A composer has invited people from around the world to start an online video game choir.

Game Choir was founded by Ben England, from Patchway on the edge of Bristol, who says more than 1,000 people signed up to take part in four days.

The group will sing songs from games such as Zelda, Minecraft and Halo.

Mr England said he wanted to bring people who had never sung before - or had not done so for a long time - together.

"Things have moved on so much from the days of things like Pacman. It's now fully composed, orchestrated and recorded," Mr England added.

The group will meet regularly online and Mr England said Halo composer Martin O'Donnell would be joining the first session.

Mr England says he is excited to bring gaming and music together

Mr England described the Halo theme as "iconic" and said he had been playing the game for 24 years.

"During the pandemic I set up multiple online choirs but we noticed the demographic tended to skew towards the mature side.

"We wanted to bring those who haven't sung before, or for some time, and Halo felt like the ideal piece to start with," he said.

Mr O'Donnell said he was absolutely thrilled the choir would be singing his music.

Self-described "massive gamer" Dylan, 14, from Bristol, has joined the choir.

He said: "There's something about the feeling that music brings to a game that changes everything.

"I love video games and I love music. I've played games for years and tried playing them without music and it just doesn't work."