S: Welcome, Michaela! This isn’t your first interview, is it?
M: Thank you for having me here, Braxton. This actually isn’t my first interview. My first interview was around November of 2010 when I was asked about how I got accepted to play in Carnegie Hall with American High School Honors Performance Series, which took place in February of 2011.
S: What was it like to play at Carnegie Hall?
M: The playing experience in Carnegie Hall was so surreal. The acoustics were so brilliant and natural. It still baffles me to this day that I actually played in there with an orchestra.
S: What is it about violin playing that you enjoy the most?
M: Playing the violin marked the beginning of a journey for me to discover and express my artistic voice. It allows me to escape from reality and create a perfect world of my own, a world where people would appreciate both video games and music. It makes me smile when I watch people react in amazement as a result of listening to me play a video game related theme on my violin.
S: Who inspires you, musically? It can be composers, other musicians, etc.
M: Ever since I discovered Koji Kondo, I’ve aspired to play video game themes on my violin… the first one being the Super Mario Bros. theme. I’ve also been inspired by a few classical music composers such as Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Schubert.
S: When did you first come into contact with Pokémon?
M: My older sister was the one who got me into Pokemon. She was playing through Victory Road in Pokemon Blue on our lime green Gameboy Color. But after a few hours of wandering around aimlessly, our Gameboy ran out of batteries as she nearly reached the end… so she gave up and handed the Gameboy to me. As a result, I replaced the batteries, started at the beginning of Victory Road with my sister’s team and continued playing Pokemon since that fateful day.
S: Do you have any favorite pieces of music from the Pokémon games?
M: Oh my, where do I begin? I’ve fallen in love with the Pokemon themes whether they’ve been reorchestrated by amazing people like Braxton or kept in their original 8-bit style. If I had to choose a couple, I would definitely pick Silph Co. and the Gym Leader theme (which is actually my ringtone, haha) because of the amount of suspense each theme expresses.
S: Aside from Pokémon, are there any other game soundtracks that you enjoy?
M: Video game music is ambrosia to my ears. I’ve fallen in love with countless video game soundtracks including The Legend of Zelda series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Rhythm Heaven, Phoenix Wright, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy… the list goes on!
S: Is it true that you own a collection of Poké Ball earrings?
M: Why as a matter of fact, yes it’s true! I created Poke Ball earrings out of Perler Beads, which are plastic colorful beads you can iron to make trinkets of all shapes and sizes. So far, I’ve made Poke Balls, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, Master Balls, Premier Balls, Dusk Balls, and Quick Balls!