Neon lights fill the screens above her, the music surrounds her as she rises her baton and begins the electrifying experience that is video games live. The crowd claps and cheers in excitement, as they watch the live orchestra perform the songs of their favorites video games, and piece by piece, experience it all coming to life. For Eimear Noone, this is all part of the day job, touring the world with her family and some of her best friends at her side.
Now living in Malibu, this young Irish woman is working for Blizzard Entertainment and composing scores for World of Warcraft, Zelda and Diablo to name a few. While touring the world performing these iconic pieces in a show called ‘Video games live’, she has performed in places beyond her wildest dreams, including the Sydney Opera House, Madison Square Garden, the Kennedy Center, Beijing and Vienna.
The glamour however doesn’t come without struggle, hard work and utter dedication. Despite being told numerous times that she might not be good enough, or that she might not make it, Eimear was determined to succeed, achieve her goals and follow her dreams.
Photo by adamara
“When I was nineteen I was asked by one conductor what I wanted to do with my music degree, and I said I want to be a composer and a conductor and the guy kind of laughed and said you haven’t a chance, you’ve three things going against you, one, you’re young, two, you’re Irish, and three, you’re female”.
Initially, Eimear was discouraged, but she continued with her work, and when she saw herself improving she realized that she deserved a chance as much as anyone else did. “At the time it was very impactful, it hurt but it made me think, and I decided to make those three things the things that were different about me, I was going to make them the reason that I succeeded rather than the reason that I failed”.
After college Eimear took a ‘Screen Training Ireland’ certificate in film scoring where a well renowned orchestrator was brought over to teach. After taking his class she was later hired as his assistant based on her work which is what brought her to LA.
Making it in Hollywood isn’t all about who you know, but rather what you can do, and coming from Kilconnell, a small village in County Galway, Eimear had little or no connections. “The number one thing is doing a good job so that you get recommended for the next thing, for me that’s what it’s been about, I’ve gone from job to job purely on word of mouth, I didn’t have connections, I didn’t have inside knowledge or anything like that”.
Eimear remembers trying her hand at many different projects, and not getting every opportunity, but reminds us that you need to keep trying, because you only need one chance to prove yourself. “Out of the hundred things I’ve tried out for or applied for, I’ve gotten one, and my whole career is built up on that one out of one hundred, people say you got lucky but no I didn’t, I got one out of one hundred each time and just kept going for the next… it’s like this, they say if you throw enough mud at a wall one will stick, and out of one hundred fistfuls of mud, one stuck”
Eimear is one of the few that has become a successful female conductor and composer, with fewer than 2% of composers for media being women. She believes that going forward more needs to be done to address the imbalance in the industry. “Women need to stop being afraid to take the leap because they’ll get the same kind of reaction I got at nineteen years of age”.
“Eimear Noone lives every note of the music she performs, it’s not just that she hears it, the music becomes part of her DNA” said Craig Garfinkle, her husband and colleague at Blizzard Entertainment.
Now Eimear stands on stage, rising her baton surrounded by the music she has created, knowing that she did in fact have a ‘chance’ of succeeding. She looks forward to another European tour, a brand new game development called ‘The Ruins of Aryan” and the launch of ‘Rock mania live “There’s lots of excitement in the next year” she said “I can’t wait for the next adventure”.