In the drudge of the Rochester winter, there’s often nothing I crave more than an escape. While I don’t mind the cold, what I do mind is the stress. And the deadlines. And the looming fear of inconceivable change. And to tell you guys the truth, all I’ve ever wanted is to run away to a small town and start a tiny farm and meet the love of my life: one of the 12 eligible bachelors of the area.
So, imagine how I felt when I opened my desk drawer to find a serendipitously placed letter from my late grandfather: one urging me to pack my bags and make the big break for Stardew Valley. (At least, that’s what I wished would happen — as it does when you start up a new save file on the game.) To put it simply, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
So, I made my way to the Kodak Center on a drizzly Thursday evening to reap the fruits of my luck. While a one-way ticket to Pelican Town wasn’t precisely in my cards, an evening of music with the “Stardew Valley: Symphony of Seasons” concert was.
Curated by the game’s creator ConcernedApe, the symphony features a 35-piece local orchestra swinging out Stardew’s soundtrack as the conceptual player (the audience) makes their way from day-one to game completion. In the backdrop, behind the bowing violins and jangly percussion, a projector screen in the concert hall showcased accompanying scenes from the game and animatic loops created specifically for the concert. In all truth, it was kind of like Cocomelon: a simultaneous soothing agent and glossed-over portal into genuine gameplay. But honestly, it worked.
From the soft plucked strings of the overture, my visions of the game shifted from just a vision on my computer screen to something more tangible. While I wasn’t on the farm by any means, I was a part of a derived collective experience. My excitement towards the pixelated cattle, the familiar faces, and the selection of festivals wasn’t simply my own, rather something shared across the crowd. And as the opening screen moved across the bright hills of the emblematic Stardew scene, Pelican Valley had never looked so lush.
Admittedly, much to my positive surprise, the audience itself was a lot more diverse than I would have expected. When I think of “Stardew Valley,” a cozy and peaceful farming simulation game, I think of our college-age demographic: of cottagecore and strawberry cows (jumpscare) and staying online until 5 a.m. to play computer games during the pandemic. I think of dyed hair and pronouns and naming your in-game chickens after all your best friends.
And while I did see a fair share of dyed hair and strawberry bandanas and chicken bags (the security guard for the concert told me that mine wasn’t the first she’d checked that night), there was also a whole lot else. Families, season ticket holders, gray hair and purple hair, and tiny tots settled in on booster seats in the auditorium rows. Even the mayor of Stardew Valley — Lewis — made an appearance in the mezzanine. A cosplayer, sure, but I had to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the experience. Rochester has a lot in common with Pelican Town if you think about it — he could have made his way over.
Phoebe Smoker, a 7th grader from the Rochester area, attended the concert with his sister Josie and one of his best friends. The tickets were a gift from his dad Brady Leo.
They’ve been playing Stardew on the Switch for four years and find it a great way to spend time with each other and their friends — primarily on the game’s co-op farm mode.
“I really like the art and the friendships and all the cut scenes. I really like all the effort [ConcernedApe] put into that,” Josie Smoker said.
On the other hand, Phoebe Smoker is a big fan of Stardew’s resident shadow figure: Krobus. When they announced the entity as Rochester’s favorite character (surveyed via an audience vote at the start of the show), I’m convinced that he was the loudest voice cheering.
Throughout the evening, the audience shared laughs, whispers, and suspense as the orchestra flowed across their selection of songs. For a primarily synthesized soundtrack, Stardew’s instrumentals translate well to a classically-based ensemble: melodic and memorable with space for its texture to shine. Along with its standard strings, various songs featured banjo and electric guitar work, leaning into the more rustic and intense moments of the game.
The “Journey of the Prairie King” suite brought one of the night’s highlights: an intense shootoff mini-game fit with Western flair and engaging visuals. Watching on the screen, it was almost as if I was playing the game myself — and like I had gotten a lot better at it since I last played. Likewise, the concert saved the best for last with “The Dance of the Moonlight Jellies” which was played as a jovial encore following the main seasonal selections.
The evening’s narrative brought the audience through their first year in Stardew Valley: from the onset of our first spring to reaching the summit at the close of the concert. While, admittedly, the trajectory of the gameplay was skewed towards near-impossible success, there’s only so much you can pack in two hours if you’re looking to give the audience the full bang for their buck. The current speedrunning record for perfection in “Stardew Valley” clocks in at just around 27 hours … so maybe it’s for the better that they sped things up a notch.
At the close of the evening, I found myself satisfied and starry-eyed as I fought the urge to open my Stardew save file and spend the next week building my farm (Juniper Julep) to completion.
For those looking to take in the Symphony of Seasons for themselves, the tour will continue until the end of April 2026. More information can be found at the “Stardew Valley Concert” website.
As for the Kodak Center, more information on its upcoming lineup can be found at their website or on Instagram.
