We’re headed out on a massive tour to celebrate 10 Years of Dada Land!

The Stamford Symphony Orchestra is celebrating the genius of Beethoven with concerts on Saturday, Feb. 22 and Sunday, Feb. 23. Kate Remington talks with Music Director Designate Michael Stern about the works on the program: the Coriolan Overture , the Symphony No. 7 and the spectacular Violin Concerto with guest soloist Pamela Frank.

Tory Bilski could have called her well-written and witty memoir of riding horses in northern Iceland “Wild Horses of the Midnight Sun,” but in naming it “Wild Horses of the Summer Sun,” shows her writing creds: the alliteration effectively plays on the popular image many people associate with this starkly beautiful land of lupine fields and black volcanic sand banks – not to mention Johnny Mercer’s lyrics in that old jazz standard, “Midnight Sun.” Like Mercer, Bilski evokes a nostalgic warmth for what is gone but indelibly remembered because it was so affecting. In “Wild Horses of the Summer Sun” the love is for Icelandic horses and the country, not far from the Arctic Circle. An unusual destination when Bilski started going years ago, having heard about the horses from a woman who owned a horse farm in the Berkshires. The marvel of this moving, funny, episodic narrative is that Bilski turns living on a horse farm in Iceland with other women for a week every June into a universal story

Led by arranger and founder Charlie Rosen, the 8-Bit Big Band has rekindled a love of swing with fans of game music. Following a sold-out show in New York City, the band has invited high-energy sax virtuoso Grace Kelly to join them for two concerts in Boston on March 1 . As Charlie told me, he has so much admiration for classic themes from Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy that he thinks of them as The Great Game Songbook. Charlie says his love of Broadway provides the inspiration for his arrangements, which range from classic Benny Goodman to a Frank Sinatra-style cover of Still Alive from Portal. Grace and Charlie performed together as part of The Late Show Band, and their energy just clicked. Grace has been a special guest for many of the 8-Bit Big Band's concerts. Both Charlie and Grace are planning to debut new arrangements of beloved game themes at the Boston concerts. The band has released two albums , and third is due out this summer. Episode tracklist

For their celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday this year, the Fairfield County Chorale is performing one of his most famous works, the Emperor Piano Concerto with soloist Ilya Yakushev, and one of Beethoven's least known sacred works on Saturday, March 7 at the Norwalk Concert Hall. Kate Remington talks with Artistic Director David Rosenmeyer about what makes each of these two works so special.

Christopher Larkin's score for Hollow Knight is one of the most beloved soundtracks in recent games. I talked with arranger David Peacock and pianist Augustine Mayuga Gonzales about their project to adapt Chris' haunting music for solo piano. David says he appreciates Christopher's involvement in developing the arrangements. He says Chris advised him to use the lore of the game as inpiration for his arrangements. Augustine says he loved playing David's arrangements because they were challenging, but also allowed him to use his background as a classical pianist. The soundtrack is available through Bandcamp, and a vinyl release as well as a book of sheet music are also planned. Episode tracklist All tracks by Christopher Larkin, arranged by David Peacock and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales Hollow Knight : Hornet; Greenpath; Resting Grounds; Dung Defender; Crossroads; City of Tears; Reflection; Radiance; Hollow Knight Follow Kate on Twitter Subscribe to Music Respawn in Apple

Before there was the Algonquin Round Table in New York in the ‘20s, a lunch group of literary bon vivants whose often quotable put downs would become famous, there was – and STILL IS – The Club, a unique London tavern assembly of intellectuals, started in 1764, that included some of the most dazzling verbal sharpshooters of the day. Their extraordinary, wide-ranging conversations, passionate arguments and often hilarious provocations and rejoinders have now been captured by the award-winning cultural critic Leo Damrosch. Called “ The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped An Age , ” this fascinating history will likely prove one of the most engaging, enlightening and delicious books you’ll come across in a long time. Damrosch wears his scholarship with ease and grace, including references, as he genially corrects or adds ironic commentary to the private lives and public careers he celebrates. As the title has it, he follows the arcs of the humbly born Samuel Johnson and of

There are celebrations of Beethoven's 250th birthday all over the world this year, but close to home, Musical Masterworks in Old Lyme is presenting every string quartet by Beethoven in two sets of three evening performances by the Ehnes Quartet beginning on Friday, March 13th. Kate Remington talks with series Artistic Director Edward Aaron about the concerts, which he'll be experiencing from the inside out as the cellist with the Ehnes Quartet.

Mutazione , a quirky game created by the studio Die Gute Fabrik, has one of the most laidback soundtracks ever. From his very relaxed studio on Sardinia, Alessandro Coronas created a wonderful mix of low-fi, accoustic and synth sounds to accompany young Kai on her voyage to save her grandfather on a very unusual island. Mutazione has been in development for ten years! Alessandro says the initial concepts remained from the beginning. They included the magical seeds the player can select for their various healing properties and musical sounds. That allows you to create your own soundtrack, too. Alessandro is also the sound designer for the game, so he was able to grow the music out of the sounds of the game world. He says working with the small team of Die Gute Fabrik, and especially artist Nils Deneken, was a wonderful experience because of the freedom and synergy they all had. The four-hour soundtrack, which includes extended suites adapted from the musical cues, is available through

The sparsely-populated world created as the result of a plague in The Surge 2 needed a suitably dystopian sound for the music. I talked with composer Helge Borgarts of BowsToHymns who, with his colleague Thomas Stanger, crafted their music for the soundtrack that's inspired by the striking visuals and unique sound design by developers Deck 13. Helge and BowsToHymns also worked on the soundtrack for The Kraken , an expansion for The Surge 2 set during the 1980s on an aircraft carrier that's been turned into a cruise ship. Helge says it was really fun to recreate a grunge rock sound from some of his 1980s heroes. The Surge 2 Soundtrack, including the Kraken expansion is available in Apple Music, and many other sources. Episode tracklist : All tracks composed and performed by Helge Borgarts and Thomas Stanger (BowsToHymns) The Surge 2: Plane Crash; Infiltration; City Exploration; University; The Wall; Dangerous Harbour; Black Market; The Escape (feat. Alina Lesnik, vocals); Kraken Electro

The Legacy Theatre in Branford, Connecticut, isn’t technically open yet. But Artistic Director Keely Baisden Knudsen says they’ve done more than 70 performances without a building.

It’s a matter of fact that between 1840 and 1882 there were eight assassination attempts on the life of Queen Victoria, but in his suspenseful novel “The Darwin Affair,” Tim Mason adds a ninth, in 1860, and makes the target Prince Albert. The date is important: it’s just months after the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” and concomitant with the Oxford University Museum debate on evolution featuring those famous antagonists – biologist and anthropologist Thomas Huxley and Anglican Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. Prince Albert wants to give Darwin a knighthood. No way say fierce evolution deniers in Parliament and powerful members of the clergy, and so they conscript a sinister anti-evolutionist to kill the prince and thus head off what would otherwise be seen as royal approval of a theory that threatens The Great Chain of Being: the way things are, have been, and must be forever. Little do they know that their hired man, the wraith-like creature with the disturbing

Lumote is a dreamy puzzle platforming game created by the tiny team of Luminawesome. Composer and sound designer Paul Ruskay describes it as "a science fair project" because they designed a completely new way of generating the graphics with a program that's normally used to place the music at the appropriate moment in a game. The art style is flowy, and as the little blobby Lumote moves through the world interacting with the various flowers and little "dumb-bats," or batteries, the whole environment feels like it's underwater. Paul used that as inspiration, as well as the way nature films are shot and edited to create his playful, ambient soundtrack. Paul says he was thrilled to have a chance to add music and sound design to the genre of puzzle platformers, including games he really admires, like Portal. He says working on this soundtrack felt like unexplored territory, as it did when he wrote the music for the iconic Homeworld series of games. Paul's soundtrack is available with the

Ori and the Will of the Wisps by Moon Studios continues the adventure begun with the beloved Ori and the Blind Forest. Will of the Wisps takes Ori on an emotional journey as he searches for his new friend, Ku. Gareth Coker, who also scored Blind Forest , told me that writing the score for Will of the Wisps gave him plenty of fresh ideas because of all of the new characters in the game. Gareth was part of development of Will of the Wisps since the game's beginning, which gave him plenty of time to finetune themes for each of the new characters. Gareth worked with some outstanding musicians, including Kristin Naigus, who plays 21 different wind instruments on the score, and vocalist Aeralie Brighton, whose voice was so memorable in Ori and the Blind Forest. The digital release of Gareth's soundtrack is over three hours long, and follows the story arc of the game. A vinyl release by IAM8Bit is planned as well, and because LPs hold fewer minutes of music, Gareth describes it as "composer's

He didn’t at first appreciate the scare and chose to stay in the crowded city. And he hadn’t at the start stockpiled food or self-isolated or realized the extent of the contagion. But he did come to acknowledge the horror and the “brutal courage” of those who tried to help. “He” was Daniel Defoe. The time was 1722. The occasion, the publication of “A Journal of the Plague Year,” three years after Robinson Crusoe. In the “Journal” Defoe is looking back 57 years to when The Great Plague hit London, one year before The Great Fire would destroy just about anything that was left. Ironically it was probably the fire that helped finally destroy the vermin carrying the infecting bacteria. Writer, merchant, at times spy, Daniel Defoe created in the “Journal” a chronological first-person narrative of the epidemic in the voice of a middle-class tradesman, a saddler. Defoe would have been 5 when The Plague broke out, so his gripping on-the-scene account, augmented by research, must be considered

The Stamford Symphony Orchestra has launched its very own video channel as a way for the musians to connecct with audience members from around the world. Kate Remington talks with Music Director Designate Michael Stern about the diverse videos on the channel, and the most recent project featuring musicians in the orchestra and soloists of next season coming together to perform Amazing Grace , dedicated to all healthcare workers in Fairfield County on the frontlines during the COVID-19 crisis.

At this year's (now postponed) Game Developers Conference, composer and sound designer Oda Tilset planned to present a session about how incorporating music created by a computer's Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool. Oda tells me that AI-generated music is really helpful to generate ideas that a composer might not have thought of. For musicians and composers who are just getting their feet wet with computer-generated music software, Oda reccommends Noknok Audio , which is very flexible and easy to use. One of the murkier aspects of using AI to create music is who owns the end product. Oda has studied numerous user agreements for sharing audio and music, including SoundCloud and there's no clear answer. She says the best part of using AI is that it's like having a collaborator without those painful discssions about whose ideas are better! Episode tracklist All tracks composed by Oda's computer AI, modified in her digital audio workstation. Thanks to Dick Roberts for production

The spy-thriller, Spyder , from studio Sumo Digital, is an homage to a classic genre that had its golden age in the 1960s. The Apple Arcade game features an adorable mechanical spider, Agent 8, created like one of James Bond's gadgets, that players control during missions that are increasingly dangerous. Composer Winifred Phillips created the perfect '60s and early '70s inspired soundtrack, featuring elements of jazz, orchestral, and even early synth rock sounds. She says doing the research by reviewing classic spy and adventure films and TV shows helped her keep the score pitch-perfect. Winifred says the first music she wrote for Spyder was the trailer soundtrack, which encapsulates lots of aspects of the game: suspense, heroics, and Agent 8's confident swagger. Winifred's insightful articles about writing game soundtracks appear regularly on Gamasutra, and her sessions at the annual Game Developers Conference are among the most well-attended. She was planning to present a session

Yet another go at the Founding Fathers? Well, to judge from historian and documentary filmmaker Tom Shachtman’s new book, “The Founding Fortunes,” Yes and No. Subtitled “How the Wealthy Paid for and Profited from America’s Revolution,” Shachtman’s analysis of the years 1763-1813 merits a yes because he does revisit some of the big names and battles of the day. But the answer is also no because “The Founding Fortunes” is not just another look at Colonial and post-Colonial politics and economics. Shachtman has a timely and provocative take on who in America supported the War for Independence, and why. Relying on hundreds of historical documents and contemporary scholarship, Shachtman’s out to dispel what he calls “myths” about some of the movers and shakers of the day. And to suggest, by comparison, the less-than-generous or suspect ambitions of some of the wealthy today who would influence current events under the heading of patriotism. It’s a complicated and complex story Shachtman

Amoeba Battle, a real time strategy game, gives teams of players a chance to save the world, defeating one virus at a time. Composers Kenny Wood and Igor Nemirovsky were encouraged by developer Grab Games to create music that gives an epic scale to the microscopic world the amoebas inhabit. Players in Amoeba Battle can explore different worlds, and adapt their army of amoebas to the different enemies they encounter. Kenny and Igor say the developers at Grab Games provided lots of inspiration for the various enviroments. Amoeba Battle has been in development since 2011, and both Kenny and Igor say it's been a great experience to revisit the music they wrote all those years ago and adapt it to the finished game. They're planning to release a soundtrack in the near future as well. Episode tracklist: All tracks performed by Kenny Wood and Igor Nemirovsky Amoeba Battle: Kenny Wood: Battle 2 Igor Nemirovsky: Obsidian Peak Kenny Wood: Final Battle Igor Nemirovsky: Mushroom Kingdon; Primorial

Award-winning composer Peter McConnell is no stranger to the world of Plants vs. Zombies . Battle for Neighborville is his third soundtrack for the series. He's also no stranger to the banjo! He's been playing since he was 13, but when he spied a gorgeous 1928 Gibson five-string in a music store he regularly haunts, he knew it would be perfect for the Cheese Mines levels in the game. Peter gave the whole soundtrack a real roots feel, also using a slide guitar. He even wrote his own, in his words, "earnest" folk song, Where Have All the Plants Gone , inspired by legendary folksinger Joan Baez, who's actually a neighbor. Because Plants vs. Zombies Battle for Neighborville is a science fiction game at heart, Peter also added plenty of classic synths. He says the developers at Pop Cap also suggested the sound of the score for The Time Machine, based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Peter says getting the right emotion in his music for a game keeps the writing interesting, whether it's the

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Sofia Jamora addresses the internet chatters on her Instagram after fellow model Erza Haliti claimed she had an affair with married Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

The 'Fuller House' actress has lost her bid to get charges against her thrown out of the court in college admissions scandal that also sent fellow star Felicity Huffman to prison.

The 'Grey's Anatomy' actress and her musician husband Rob Giles are heading for divorce after more than a decade of marriage and three children together.

The 'Lollipop' hitmaker and his plus-sized bride-to-be have seemingly put an end to their relationship only months after officially going public as a couple.

A new star-studded online poker tournament is scheduled to take place this coming weekend to raise money for nonprofit organizations amid the ongoing health crisis.

The 'I Believe I Can Fly' singer vows to be on his best behavior if he is released on bond and placed on house arrest while awaiting trial for sex charges.

Joining Jada Pinkett Smith on her Facebook Watch show 'Red Table Talk', the 'Bird Box' actress and her daughter Laila surprise nurse manager April Buencamino ahead of Mother's Day.

This arrives after Kehlani sparks speculations that her new album 'It Was Good Until It Wasn't' was about YG as one fan says, 'Kehlani's album is really all about her and YG's toxic sex.'

One of the former 'Empire' star's ex-lovers claims the actor owes him money and demands to be paid up, or he will release the three-minute footage of Jussie's sexual activities.

Stage partner Siegfried Fischbacher has since paid tribute to the Las Vegas entertainer and offered his heartfelt appreciation to the doctors, nurses and staff that have worked heroically against COVID-19.

The couple, whose marriage has been reported on the rocks over their unequal share of parenting duties, is said to be living in separate parts of their L.A. house.

One month after welcoming his baby boy with the 'Girl' hitmaker, the 'To a T' crooner opens up about fatherhood and being supportive of his wife as she bonds with their first child.

The married couple goes on Instagram Live as a part of their new series 'The Biebers on Watch', doing a fun QnA session where they discuss Justin's struggle with Lyme disease.

Also set to perform remotely for the two-hour TV fundraiser, which aims to bring an end to child poverty around the world, are Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and OneRepublic among others.