About AWR Music

Our Story

In the 1970s, Arnie Roth was a busy freelance violinist in Chicago and, increasingly, a frequently-sought contractor in the area. As his contracting business grew, ongoing professional relationships formed, and live music and record production became a major part of what the business called AWR Music does.

The ‘90s into the early ‘00s saw the growth of the musician contracting business on an international scale while music production, for touring and recording artists, as well as orchestrating, film scoring, and conducting became the norm for Arnie both in Chicago and around the world. Concert production has always been a part of what AWR Music does, but from 2003 on it became increasingly a concentration, culminating since 2007 in the phenomenal Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY production.

With a diversely skilled staff and the addition of Music Director Eric Roth in 2008, AWR Music is more capable than ever to provide talent and support. Today AWR Music and AWR Music Productions deliver every aspect of the live concert production, from musician hiring to research and development to performance, from technical and logistical expertise to social media and niche marketing, from original music and the creation of arrangements and orchestrations to all aspects of record production.

AWR Music has created and produced many albums for American Gramaphone Records over the last 20 years, including two recent chart-topping releases with Mannheim Steamroller (Christmas Symphony I and II). Successful professional collaborations include those with Harpo Productions (Oprah), The Beach Boys, Diana Ross, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Andrea Bocelli, Pat Benatar, Jewel, Five For Fighting, Peter Cetera, Dennis DeYoung, The Irish Tenors, and all of the major booking agencies and management companies including WME, IMG Artists, CAA, and Azoff Entertainment.

About Arnie Roth

AWR Music's founder, GRAMMY Award-winning musician Arnie Roth, has achieved a remarkable track record of success in the music industry over several decades which defies description. Arnie started out performing and arranging the strings for Styx's 1979 album Cornerstone, topped the Billboard 100 with the inimitable ballad "Babe," and has stayed at the top, working with many of the world's most celebrated artists including Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Il Divo, Jewel, Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, Patrick Stewart, Peter Cetera, Pat Benatar, Dennis DeYoung, and countless others.

Arnie is perhaps best known as the music director, producer, and conductor of the global live orchestral performance phenomenon Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY in collaboration with video game company SQUARE ENIX. Featuring the music of beloved composer Nobuo Uematsu and other composers from throughout the FINAL FANTASY franchise, Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY has sold out hundreds of concerts in the most storied venues in the world including Tokyo's International Forum, London's Royal Albert Hall, New York's Carnegie Hall, Australia's Sydney Opera House, and many more. He was also the producer of five Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY albums and several DVD and Blu-ray's of concerts. 

Prior to his work with the FINAL FANTASY tours, Arnie was the principal violinist and concertmaster for the Mannheim Steamroller, the #1 best-selling Christmas artist of all time, for decades working closely with composer Chip Davis on dozens of albums and tours including the GRAMMY award-winning album Fresh Aire 7. He was also the producer and music director for the Mannheim Steamroller's Billboard Top 200-charting Christmas Symphony and Christmas Symphony II albums with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Throughout the early 2000's, Arnie composed, arranged, and conducted music for several CGI animated films for Mattel Entertainment's Barbie™ franchise including 2003's Barbie™ as Rapunzel which won the Best Score Award at the 2003 DVD Premier Awards. And in 2007 Arnie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his original song "Shine" from Barbie™ in The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This was followed by two successful live orchestra concert productions with Mattel: Barbie™ at the Symphony and Barbie™ in the Nutcracker.

Arnie Roth has conducted many of the world’s great orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Kansai Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Czech National Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony. He has produced recordings for many prominent orchestral musicians and ensembles including the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass, The Irish Tenors, George Vosburgh, and for prominent labels like American Gramaphone, JVC, Mattel, Warner Bros., Sony, Koch, Razor & Tie, AWR Records, and SQUARE ENIX.

About Eric Roth

AWR Music’s Eric Roth is a formidable musical force: a music director/conductor, an orchestrator/arranger, a producer of concerts and recordings, a composer of original music, and much more.  

Eric is the music director and chief arranger for A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY, the chamber music ensemble concert production by AWR Music Productions and video game developer SQUARE ENIX. Since premiering in 2014, the production has performed hundreds of concerts on four continents and released two acclaimed full-length recordings. He is also the associate music director and an orchestrator/arranger for Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY, the global live orchestral performance phenomenon.

Eric was the conductor of the orchestra for The Beach Boys’ unprecedented Holiday Vibrations Tour in 2022, performing many of his own orchestra arrangements of these all-time great songs with the legendary band. He was the conductor of the orchestra for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s historic Strings Attached Tour in 2019, performing dozens of monumental multimedia shows throughout the United States and Canada. Eric also conducted the once-in-a-lifetime Suprise, Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular! concert at the United Center in Chicago with a roster of performers that included Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Usher, Kristin Chenoweth, Jamie Foxx, and Josh Groban. He has also worked as a conductor on projects with Five for Fighting, Seal, Jewel, Dennis DeYoung and Stevie Nicks, and has conducted many prominent symphony orchestras and other ensembles around the world.

In 2018, he created the OPENWORLD ensemble to represent the broad scope of video game music, with many successful performances at community and culture conventions in North America and beyond. In 2020, Eric was the music director and conductor for the incredible sold-out world premiere of Undertale LIVE featuring the music from Toby Fox’s hit video game. Eric was also the lead orchestrator/arranger and produced the subsequent album. 

Other orchestration/arranging credits include two best-selling Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Symphony albums, the Pat Benatar/Neil Giraldo orchestra production with the Pittsburgh Symphony, KC and the Sunshine Band with the Memphis Symphony, Five For Fighting orchestra and string quartet productions, Twelve Doors: Tribute to Noriyuki Iwadare, and much more.

Eric’s original music includes The RPG National Anthem Variations, a theme and variations based on Nobuo Uematsu’s “Main Theme from FINAL FANTASY” for guitar virtuoso Sam Griffin, music for the dynamic harmonica/piano duo Konstantin Reinfeld/Benyamin Nuss, music for the documentary film Baseball’s Been Very, Very Good to Me: The Minnie Minoso Story, music for Curious George’s Dictionary, an award-winning application for mobile devices, and much more. He’s also released his original music on albums such as Battery and Program16. Other original music includes Lyceum for percussion ensemble and solo recitation, The Clark Street Bridge Project for 80+ percussionists, and Secret Cheese commissioned for live performance at the Tate Modern in London.