Yuka Kitamura (Japanese: 北村 友香, Hepburn: Kitamura Yuka; born April 27, 1990) is a Japanese composer and violinist. Kitamura is best known for her compositions of the Japanese video game developer FromSoftware, most notably for Dark Souls III, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring. She left FromSoftware in 2023 to pursue freelance work.
Biography
Kitamura was born in Hokkaido, Japan. She has been interested in video games and music composition since her childhood, citing Majora's Mask as one of her favorite games and an influence for her professional ventures. After graduating from Sapporo Visual Arts College with a degree in music production, she began working at FromSoftware in 2011. There, she composed music for several of the studio’s successful games, including Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring. She also took the place of Motoi Sakuraba as lead composer for Dark Souls III. Additionally, she was a member of FreQuency, a band composed of members of FromSoftware's sound team and led by Tsukasa Saitoh. In August 2023, she announced that she was leaving FromSoftware and would be working as a freelancer from then on. Since then, she has worked on music for The Touhou Empires and is the lead composer for the anime, Witch Hat Atelier.
Musical style
Kitamura is noted for not only composing her music, but occasionally performing individual parts. In addition to performing as a vocalist, she plays both violin and cello, and has performed with all three in some of her compositions. She frequently combines sampled sounds and live performances in her music, mixing between the two to create her works.
Her compositions are characterized by their oppressive and suspenseful nature, which underscores the often unsettling and violent scenes in FromSoftware’s games. The radio station NTS Radio noted that her music has accompanied the virtual deaths of millions of players. The gaming website Gamekult stated that she excels in the realm of dark fantasy characteristic of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s games.
