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Concert celebrates 20th anniversary of 'Avatar: The Last

Airbender'

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Original creative team from animated series involved in

concert

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New projects from Avatar Studios include feature film and

'Seven

Havens' series

By Danielle Broadway

LOS ANGELES, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Fans sang along on

Sunday in Los Angeles to celebrate the 20th anniversary

orchestra concert of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," which

features music from the popular 2005 animated Nickelodeon

series.

"It's really cool to get a younger generation in to see an

orchestra concert and get 'em to see something that they're

excited about because they know and love Avatar," conductor

Emily Marshall told Reuters at the Dolby Theatre.

The 2025 "Avatar: The Last Airbender" tour takes place in

over 80 cities across the globe and is based on the story of a

boy named Aang, the last Airbender and the world's protector

called the Avatar, who journeys to restore balance despite a war

dominated by the Fire Nation.

Marshall believes it was important to have a team so

dedicated to ensuring the show was authentic for fans.

"It is really special that the whole original creative team

of "Avatar" was involved in the creation of our show here," she

said.

Original composer for the show, Jeremy Zuckerman, never

imagined that he would go from knowing very little about scoring

music to composing for an award-winning franchise.

However, the course of his life changed in 2005 when he

began working on the music for the show with co-creators Michael

Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

"It's so satisfying finally seeing these pieces performed by

humans, because originally all the orchestra was samples,"

Zuckerman said.

The live performance offers fans a chance to hear Asian

instruments like the Erhu, a Chinese stringed instrument, and

the Taiko drums from Japan.

Some of the concert music features the "Agni Kai" battle

music and the campy song "Secret Tunnel."

DiMartino and Konietzko spent two years creating a

live-action adaptation of the first "Avatar" series for Netflix ( NFLX )

until parting ways with the studio in 2020, explaining

that "creative differences" caused them to depart the project.

The live-action show debuted in 2024 under the leadership of

Albert Kim for the first season. Jabbar Raisani and Christine

Boylan will be directing the next two seasons after Kim stepped

down in 2024.

In 2021, the "Avatar" co-creators announced that they were

teaming up with Nickelodeon again to form their own production

company and division of Nickelodeon called Avatar Studios that

will continue the world-building of the original show with new

projects.

"The two main things that we've got in the pipeline and

hopefully coming out in the next year or two is the big feature

film starring Aang and his friends. They're a little bit older

now. The animation is looking incredible and I can't wait until

it shows in theaters and everybody can enjoy it," DiMartino said

at the Dolby.

"Then we have 'Seven Havens,' which is about a girl named

Avatar Pavi, who is the Avatar after Korra. She's an

Earthbender. So, a lot of mystery around the show and it's also

gorgeous kind of new style," he added.

Zuckerman, who also composed the music for the sequel "The

Legend of Korra", will return for the upcoming film "The Legend

of Aang: The Last Airbender" and the series "Avatar: Seven

Havens."