Unveiled composition ‘Retail Therapy’

On August 21, 2009, at SummerFest 2009, Copeland unveiled the composition “Retail Therapy”, which was commissioned by the Music Society. He performed three more original works: “Kaya”, “Celeste”, and “Gene Pool”, the last accompanied by San Diego–based percussion ensemble red fish blue fish. He attended a composer’s roundtable and a question and answer discussion in conjunction with the festival. Copeland wrote the score for a theatrical presentation of Ben-Hur , which premiered on September 17, 2009, at the O2 Arena in London. He provided English-language narration of the production, which is performed in Latin and Aramaic . His memoir Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies was released by HarperCollins in September 2009. The book chronicles events in his life from childhood through his work with the Police and to the present. In October 2009, he was a guest on Private Passions , the biographical music discussion program on BBC Radio 3 .