A huge amount went down at The Game Awards last night, but as well as plenty of prizes and a lot of announcements, there were a number of musical outings, one of which has really captured the hearts and minds of the audience.
During the show, The Game Awards orchestra played a musical medley of the themes from all of the Game of the Year nominees. It's a very evocative selection, but one musician in particular stood out. In almost the dead centre of the group is its flute player (or 'flautist' to use the technically correct term), notable for the visible energy he brings to proceedings.
'Flute Guy' immediately appealed to the show's viewers, so much so that the term was trending on Twitter overnight, with several tweets praising the player's obvious enthusiasm.
flute guy was the best thing about #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/gwbVljsOe3December 9, 2022
FLUTE GUY pic.twitter.com/VA1xwDuLvVDecember 9, 2022
Big shoutout to the cool flute guy in the Game Awards Orchestra! Damn near played every woodwind instrument on that stage 🔥 pic.twitter.com/l728Z0fgJeDecember 9, 2022
As several people have since pointed out, Flute guy's real name is Pedro Eustache. The Venezuelan-born player has contributed to a number of high-profile films in recent years, including 2021's Dune, Indiana Jones 4, and Pirates of the Caribbean (a role for which he won a Film & TV Music Award in 2007).
The energy is astounding, but what really caught my eye is Eustache's ability to swap between instruments on the fly. In quick succession, he swaps from the tiny piccolo to the weighty bass flute, moving back to a traditional flute (I think) at the end of the performance. You can check out the whole performance in the clip below - Eustache shouldn't be hard to spot, but props should also go to the equally enthusiastic percussion section.
If you missed the show last night, here's everything announced at The Game Awards 2022.
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I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.
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