Interview: Shelbie Rassler on Conducting the SONIC IN LIVE CONCERT Tour

Shelbie Rassler is a globally recognized composer, conductor, producer, arranger and music director whose work spans concert music, musical theatre, film, television and immersive live experiences. Starting September 20, she will be conducting the Sonic Live in Concert tour, making a stop at the San Diego Civic Theatre on September 25 to celebrate 35 years of Sonic the Hedgehog.

In this live, high-energy concert experience featuring iconic music and unforgettable moments from across the video game franchise, Rassler will lead the live ensemble, rock musicians, electronics, and vocalists, as they perform beloved songs spanning the Genesis era to today while accompanying exciting moments from the games on screen. With musical Easter eggs, an electrifying production, and music from legendary Sonic composers Jun Senoue and Tomoya Ohtani, the concert brings Sonic’s musical legacy to life on stage.

Rassler first gained national attention for her compositions and viral social-impact music videos during the COVID-19 pandemic, including her production of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now,” which earned a CBS Sunday Morning Award and was featured on CNN's The Fourth in America Primetime Special. She has since been featured by The Today Show, Good Morning America, Forbes, NPR and SiriusXM, and has music directed national and international tours and film-in-concert productions for MARVEL, Pixar, Disney, Lionsgate and Sony, including Spider-Verse: Live in Concert and Twilight in Concert. 

Her original compositions, arrangements and orchestrations have been created for artists and ensembles including Yo-Yo Ma, Lara Downes, Anthony McGill, Rhiannon Giddens and the New World Symphony Orchestra, and her musical theatre work has been presented at Feinstein’s 54 Below, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Off-Broadway theatres. Her upcoming debut album, UNQUIET, explores the intersection of music and medicine and is paired with a PBS documentary, nationwide educational programming and university residencies.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Music Director Rassler about her experience leading Sonic Live in Concert and what she's learned along the way.

You’re taking 35 years of Sonic music and bringing it to the stage. What was it like deciding which music and moments had to make it into the show?

We wanted the concert to feel like a journey through Sonic's vast 35-year history. There is so much great music to choose from, so the challenge was narrowing it down while still representing the franchise's many different eras. With fans who have been there since 1991 alongside those who discovered Sonic more recently, we wanted to make sure every generation gets that moment of hearing a favorite song live, and we hope we did just that!

How do you approach creating a musical experience that works alongside gameplay footage, rock musicians, vocalists and electronics?

From my perspective, it’s about making all of those unique elements feel like one cohesive show. We have an incredible live band and vocalists alongside electronics and gameplay visuals; each element brings something different to the experience, resulting in an immersive, one-of-a-kind musical event. We hope that when you enter the theater, you feel as though you've entered the Sonic universe.

As the Music Director on this tour, what does your role involve for a production like this, and how involved are you in the arrangements and overall musical shape of the show?

We have an incredible team at Senbla, led by our Musical Supervisor Elliot Davis, who created the musical arrangements and electronic elements for the show. I work closely with the creative team and our musicians to bring everything to life onstage, where I lead the band from the keys. As Musical Director, I also lead rehearsals, give musical feedback, and ensure we maintain the show's integrity and consistency throughout a long tour. It’s an incredibly high-energy and physically demanding show, so another important part of my role is making sure we’re pacing ourselves, keeping our endurance up, and maintaining our super-sonic speed throughout each concert!

Sonic's music has moved through many different styles over 35 years, from rock, electronic and orchestral music. What have you discovered about the music while working on the show that surprised or challenged you?

I’ve been surprised by just how intricate and complex the music is! It moves between different genres and styles at the speed of light, each requiring the same level of precision and energy. Some of the pieces are well over 200 BPM, which is… fast, to say the least! It’s an incredibly fun challenge, and our musicians are really enjoying the opportunity to push themselves in so many different musical directions.

What feels different about leading a live concert built around a video game versus a movie?

With video game music, especially for a franchise like Sonic that spans decades and has so much history among its fans, people have spent hours living inside these worlds and hearing this music over and over again. In many ways, these songs helped create the soundtrack of their lives. There’s such a personal nostalgia attached to it all, and you can really feel it in the room when we begin to play a theme or song they love.

Can you share more about your upcoming album, UNQUIET, especially the connection between music, medicine and empathy? What can people expect from the project?

UNQUIET explores mental health through music and storytelling, and asks how music can help us understand experiences that are sometimes difficult to put into words. The album brings together world-class jazz musicians, a string orchestra and voices, and it will be released in 2027! It is part of a larger project that includes national educational programming, university residencies and a PBS documentary on the intersection of music and medicine. At its core, the project is about using music to create empathy and open up conversations around mental health.

Anything else you'd like to share with San Diego audiences about this concert?

This will be my third time bringing a multimedia concert to San Diego, and I couldn’t be more excited to be back! Sonic has such an incredibly passionate fanbase, and there’s something really special about experiencing this music live alongside an audience that has so many memories and personal connections to it. We can’t wait to bring the Sonic energy to SD!

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