Among hundreds of names, as usual, a long list of nominations Grammy Award, Greek also stood out this year: Stephanie Economy (not being the only one as Vassilis Costas won the Best Latin Jazz Album award with the Global Messengers).

The young composer was nominated in the newly created category Best Score for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for the music he wrote for the game “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok” even win a prize. What made Stephanie Economou the first female candidate and winner in this category.

A few weeks after winning the Grammys, Stephanie Economou turned on the camera and microphone in her home studio in Los Angeles to connect with Athens about her experience of that big night, to talk about the challenges of writing music for video games, as well as her Greek (and also Italian, she told us) origins. After all, she was the first who made her communicate with people not only through music, but also through food.

– Yes, I was the first woman in this category, but I definitely do not want to be the last. There are so many great female composers in the video game industry. However, I would argue that in general the world of visual media composition is dominated by men. But what’s interesting about video games is that if you look, you can see that the ratio of gamers is very balanced, it’s almost 50/50, male to female. And the problem is that there are comparatively fewer female composers, precisely because they are half the consumers of these stories, it is important that they help tell these stories. So yes, it’s a male-dominated place, but compared to movies and TV, it’s better. Game developers are trying to hire younger creators, and something similar happened to me too. Ubisoft wanted to hire a composer they didn’t know who didn’t necessarily have experience in the video game world but who had something new to say. And I think that’s how you attract more women. I felt very welcome in this industry and they made sure to create space for different voices.

“It’s not necessarily easier, but I felt that those with the ability to hire video game composers were willing to take more risks. When you take a risk, different things happen.

– She was crazy. At one point, I saw violinist Hilary Hahn walking by and having a drink, and I thought, “Oh my God.” It was fun despite the long day. When you watch the awards on TV, they only show a few categories, and at the ceremony there are about 70 more. It was great just to be in the same room with so many of my colleagues. I went with the whole family.

– Music in video games is interesting because the player is the one who controls the story. He spends as much time on something as he wants, and the music should reflect that. So, the music interacts with the player. For this to work, I have to design the music accordingly. There are different sound layers that can be triggered depending on what the player is doing. So you think about music in a different way, how each layer can work with the rest and still retain its musicality and shape. It doesn’t have the same linearity that music for film or television has.

“It’s not necessary, but it definitely makes it easier to understand what’s going on. Of course, creating a game is a completely different matter. Personally, I’ve been a gamer for most of my life, so I can understand the importance of music in a game. But when I entered this field as a composer, I didn’t realize all the new parameters that come with creativity. But I can feel when the turntable needs volume or “air” musically while playing.

– I listened and listen to metal – System of a Down is still one of my favorite bands. Of course, when I started working on this score, I discovered black metal, which is very different. I didn’t know much about the genre so I had a lot of research to do, I met Wilderun and they became my main partners in making music. They would give me the music and then we would record parts with distorted guitars, and that gave the music a black metal feel.

Some of my favorites were Bathory and Wolves in the Throne Room, I have them on my playlists. I think from now on black metal will enter my listening. I really like the staging on these records and how the dark atmosphere is sometimes mixed with folk elements.

– I grew up playing the violin in classical orchestras. But what I love about writing music for television or video games is that what really matters is not what I can do, but what the project needs. And sometimes it can be something that I don’t have yet. As with black metal, which I didn’t know about and had to learn. For example, I’m working on a project right now, and after reading the script, I felt that dream pop would be an interesting genre to explore in that context. As a composer, I don’t want to just do something, for example, if I choose dream pop, I will listen as much as I can and look for musicians who can bring something authentic to the music I make. The process involves a lot of listening, learning, and also gathering tools to experiment with. This process is the most exciting. Because I always have a task to complete. And all this eventually becomes instruments and forms me as a composer.

“I would say Rise of Ragnarok.” It took me a while to get used to black metal. The reason it was a difficult result was because I was pushing myself too hard. Something that I do with a lot of my work, but I was not at ease with this one. It was something I had never done before and I wanted it to be done right. But I’m happy with the end result. I’m always torturing myself, but that’s how I operate, and that’s how the best music comes out of me.

“Halo was my favorite game, but I loved its music so much that I hesitated to write new ones. Of course, if I had the opportunity to write music for a new game in the Halo universe, I wouldn’t waste it.

– I would not say so, because all other projects take a lot of time. However, my husband is also a musician and composer, and last year we started discussing the possibility of recording together. At the moment he is preparing an album on which I took over the string parts. But I hope to make more music with it, it’s a good outlet for both of us, even if no one hears this music. This work is our life, but making music together is a testament to why we fell in love with music in the first place: playing with other people.

Yes, I am Greek American. I was born in Astoria in the USA, but my father’s family is from Simi. Astoria has a very strong Greek community and culture is a big part of my life. I hope that at some point we will be able to visit Greece with the whole family, especially Symi, so that we can get in touch with our roots.

We have kept traditions. Everything in my family, and probably most families, revolved around food. On New Years and Easter we get together, eat lamb and moussaka, it has always been part of our culture. My Greek family is now mostly just my dad and uncle, which makes me a little sad, but I’m glad I learned the Greek elements that I still keep. In fact, at the moment I’m working on a project that I can’t say more about, in which I’m collaborating with the Cretan musician Stelios Petrakis, so it’s time to discover Greek music as well.

– For the last year I have been working on films, most of which I can’t say more about yet. Anyway, in May comes out the film “About my father”, on which I worked, a comedy with Robert De Niro. This is an Italian-American story. It’s funny that I’ve been working on an Italian and now a Greek score for a year since I’m from those two countries.