The new music scene in New York and Chicago boasts a number of groups paving their own way. Wet Ink is one, along with ICE, Bang on a Can, Eighth Blackbird, and Alarm Will Sound, among others. Members of the group visited Western Michigan University this week, and joined Cara Lieurance to talk about what they do to create and perform new works.

The Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra will celebrate Valentine's Day with an abundance of romantic favorites, including the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture by Tchaikovsky, and Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. Austin Haley Berman, winner of the bronze medal in the 2016 Stulberg International String Competition, will also join the KJSO to perform the famous Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky. Conductor Andrew Koehler shares the stories behind these iconic works.

The Danish String Quartet is on tour in the United States, and it's a big deal for fans of classical music. On February 3 last week, the Boston Musical Intelligencer​ observed: "...the group gave a performance [...] with ensemble playing at an unobtrusively superhuman level." On Wednesday, cellist Fredrik Sjölin of the Danish String Quartet talked to Cara Lieurance about  tonight's concert in Kalamazoo for the Fontana series.

What does the average American really know about Muslims and the religion of Islam? For all that we hear in the news every day, misperceptions abound. But a Michigan writer hopes to change that.

It’s easy to see snow as a nuisance when you’re trying to remove it. But perhaps a look at the science of snow can restore your sense of wonder. Maria Drouillard of Kalamazoo wants to know: why is it that the texture of snow varies so much from powdery to damp? In other words, what makes snow wet or dry?

The internet allows people to connect who never would have met each other before. People who live in opposite corners of the globe, from different backgrounds and cultures. The Pulitzer-Prize winning play Water By The Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes explores human connections on and offline. Western Michigan University will perform Water By The Spoonful February 10th through February 19th.