Concert marks 20th anniversary of 'The Last Airbender'

Original creative team returns; feature film and 'Seven Havens' series in the pipeline

LOS ANGELES:

Fans sang along in Los Angeles to celebrate the 20th anniversary orchestra concert of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', featuring music from the hit 2005 Nickelodeon animated series.

"It's really cool to get a younger generation in to see an orchestra concert and get them to see something 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 world tour spans more than 80 cities and follows the story of Aang, the last Airbender and Avatar, who strives to restore balance to a world ravaged by the Fire Nation.

Marshall said it was important that the concert felt authentic for fans. "It's really special that the whole original creative team of Avatar was involved in creating our show," she added.

Original composer Jeremy Zuckerman, who began working on the series in 2005 with co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, said he never imagined moving from limited musical experience to scoring an award-winning franchise.

"It's so satisfying finally seeing these pieces performed by humans, because originally all the orchestra was samples," Zuckerman said.

The live performance features traditional Asian instruments such as the Chinese Erhu and Japanese Taiko drums, along with iconic pieces including the 'Agni Kai' battle theme and the fan-favourite song 'Secret Tunnel'.

DiMartino and Konietzko, who spent two years developing Netflix's live-action 'Avatar' series before leaving in 2020 over creative differences, are again collaborating with Nickelodeon under their banner Avatar Studios.

"The two main things we've got in the pipeline are the big feature film starring Aang and his friends — they're a little older now - and Seven Havens, about a girl named Avatar Pavi, the Avatar after Korra," DiMartino said.

Zuckerman will return to score both 'The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender' feature film and the upcoming 'Avatar: Seven Havens' series.