Sodagreen, one of the winningest bands of the Golden Melody Awards, are looking for another victory this year with their aspirational album series Vivaldi Project. Started in 2009, the Vivaldi Project is Sodagreen’s plan to release four concept albums, one based on each of the four seasons, within a two-year period. Winter Endless, this year’s winter album, has been nominated for a whopping 8 categories in the Golden Melodies: Best Song of the Year, Best Album Producer, Best Band, Best Composer, Best Musical Arranger, and Best Album. Lead singer Wu Tsing-Fong is also nominated for Best Lyricist for two of Winter’s songs, “Jolly Plaintiveness” and ”He Raises his Right Hand for the Rollcall.” The band’s 10th album, Winter is the result of an excursion to Germany last year in March, where their producer teamed the six-person Sodagreen with the sixty-person GermanPops Orchestra, led by conductor Bernd Ruf. Then, in December of the same year, they brought Winter Endless to the stage at the Taipei Arena in their “End of the Story” concert. Even before the GMA nomination announcement, Sodagreen had accepted an invitation to perform at the award ceremony this year. And they pulled out all the stops by rearranging songs from Vivaldi and asked Bernd Ruf to come to Taipei with the GermanPops Orchestra to give life to the “climactic” album. This year’s guest performance is already nine years removed from Sodagreen’s first flirt with the GMA stage in 2007. The band has a long history with the GMAs, from their win of Best Band and Best Composer at the 2007 Golden Melodies, Best Band at the 2008 awards, and Best Music Video in 2010, all the way up to the present day with their 8 nominations and live performance. For this special occasion, they have rearranged the songs from the four album, 6-years-in-the-making Vivaldi Project: Daylight of Spring, Summer/Fever, Autumn: Stories, and Winter Endless. Each album was recorded in a different city (Taitung, London, Beijing, and Berlin), according to a different season and a different mood: the warmth of Taitung’s spring folk songs, the heat of London’s summer rock scene, the cutting bittersweetness of Beijing’s autumn poetry, and the stout classicism of Berlin’s winter airs. As a whole, the project represents Sodagreen’s taste for cultural variety and their repeated return to the question: how does a band stay true to itself and the music within an ever-changing world? This year’s Golden Melody Award Ceremony opens its curtains on June 25 at the Taipei Arena. Taiwan Television Enterprise, the co-organizer for the event, will broadcast the red carpet live at 5 p.m. followed by the ceremony at 7 p.m. on the main Taiwan Television channel, and rebroadcast on TTV’s variety channel. The 2016 Golden Melody Global Music Festival will take place at the Humble House Taipei from June 22 - 24. The three-day run of events will include international fora, keynote speeches, a biz matching center, exhibition (this year’s theme will focus on the crossroads between digital technology and live concerts—the many aspects of visual technology), speed meetings, pitching, showcases/concerts, and Golden Melody Workshops. Also, to address cross-industry cooperation within this digital era, the festival has invited several businesses and experts to speak on film, television, telecommunications, gaming, and digital tech. Get ready for the spectacular lineup!