Isaacson set herself the task Mozart’s student had centuries before – to finish his “Requiem” – but she wanted to reimagine his historic work for people in the 21st century. The result is “Mozart Requiem Renewal.”

“What if I use the unfinished nature of Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ as an opportunity not just to finish it in this modern musical language, but also to reconceptualize it not as a Mass for the dead?” said Isaacson, who lives in Portland. “I’m not thinking about my dad burning in a fiery hell. I’m not thinking about, how is he going to be judged? In fact, I don’t really want to focus on his death. I want to focus on his life. How can we reconceive this work as a celebration of life?”

“Grief makes you do bold things that you wouldn’t do otherwise.”

Recognized for her transformative work, Emily has received prestigious accolades including Artist of the Year by the Maine Arts Commission and recognition as one of the 50 Mainers Leading the State by Maine Magazine. Her commitment to empowering communities through music exemplifies her dedication to being the change she wants to see in the world. Emily Isaacson is an inspirational figure shaping the future of classical music and cultural expression.

Why mess with Messiah? So that more people can share in its power.
Messiah, by George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), tells the story of one man’s work to make his world a better place. The original composition was conceived as an Easter offering that chronicled Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection. On a macro level, this is a story of creation, struggle, and transformation. This macro narrative is universal, and Handel’s music manifests these human experiences with incredible eloquence, but on a micro level, the details are limiting to other religions and frameworks of identity. Messiah Multiplied employs Handel’s powerful music, modifying and emboldening the libretto to reflect a more universal and inclusive story.

In 2021, 14 orchestras around the world performed versions of "The Four Seasons" for which an algorithm shaped the music according to projected local conditions. Last year, the U.S. premiere was presented by Maine's Classical Uprising. And now that group's leader, Emily Isaacson, will conduct a made-for-Minnesota edition at St. Catherine University's O'Shaughnessy Auditorium on Saturday night, leading the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and violin soloist Jesse Irons.

Isaacson's arrangement alters Vivaldi's music according to climate data from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest reports, but also has a fair amount of Vivaldi's original for comparison purposes. So where birds chirp in Vivaldi, there may be silence in the 2050 take because of species decline and migration. And those summertime storms may not pass as quickly as they once did.

"One of the reasons that I made the arrangement is that some of the changes require familiarity with the original," Isaacson said from her home in Portland, Maine. "But even if you're not a music nerd, you've heard Vivaldi's music while waiting at the dentist's office or on hold for something. It's like it's in the vernacular of our culture in a way that not all music is."

“Eighty percent of the time, our programs have some sort of immersive, interactive, feel-free-to-dance-and-whistle experience to them. That’s all aimed at getting a younger generation and families in there. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing.”

Emily Isaacson remembers attending classical concerts as a teenager, feeling the music viscerally, connecting with the sound. The music was exciting, passionate — it made her want to move her body. It let her tap into feelings she could not put into words. At the same time, she felt a disconnect between the way the music moved her and the way traditional concerts wanted Isaacson to listen to it — in silence, in a cathedral-like hall, following unwritten rules. She wants to “clap between movements and sway in the aisles,” she says. And so she has made it her work to bring music to the community as a shared experience and a call to action. At Williams College and around the world, she has seen many kinds of music acting as a catalyst, she says, and drawing community together. She wants to see classical music doing that work and holding that energy. So she has started her own center for it,.

While recognizing the incredible destruction COVID-19 has caused, the pandemic ... has shown us why we need music, why we need live performance, how the arts connect us to each other and to ourselves. The absence of 'normal' creates space to ask if normal was working, and for whom; and if it wasn’t working, how can we maintain the artistic integrity and emotional authenticity at the center of great performances, while bringing it to new places and including more people in the conversation?