About us

The Game Music Ensemble (GME) is a UCLA group consisting of orchestra, choir, jazz and chamber ensembles dedicated to performing and celebrating original video game music. In the past, the ensemble has performed pieces from Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Skyrim, Legend of Zelda, Undertale and more, with guest conductors like Neal Acree and Gerard Marino.

Founded in 2014 by Jose Daniel Ruiz, GME shows are modeled after other live acts such as Video Games Live, Distant Worlds, while its organizational model enables its members to integrate their academic studies with the performance, social, and leadership opportunities GME provides. 

GME has a full orchestra and choir performance twice a year—one in winter and one in spring—with jazz and chamber performances spread throughout, at various campus locations, but primarily at Schoenberg Hall and the historical Powell Library Rotunda.

Interested in joining? Have pieces you’ve arranged that you’d like to see performed? Check out our “Get involved” tab!

Ensembles

Our full orchestra meets every Friday at 5:30 PM in the band room (SMB 1345) of the Schoenberg Music Building. This is the group that works on larger scale pieces.

Our chamber groups are smaller groups of a few musicians who set their own practice times and work on pieces for events such as Fowler Out Loud. Many chamber pieces feature student arrangements.

Our choir meets every Friday from 6 to 8 PM in the orchestra room (SMB 1343). They perform their own choir pieces and are part of some of the full orchestra pieces as well.

Our jazz ensemble meets once a week. This is a smaller group rehearses and performs jazz repertoire in both full-scale concerts and outside events. Jazz times may vary depending on everyone’s schedule.