Twin Cities Pioneer Press: With ‘The [Uncertain] Four Seasons,’ classical musicians and St. Kate student poets tackle climate change→

“The [Uncertain] Four Seasons” is a re-composition of Antonio Vivaldi’s famous four-part piece, put through an algorithm that changes the music based on geospatial predictions for the year 2050, drawn from a report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Rising surface temperatures alter the tempo; ocean temps alter the pitch; sea level data changes the mode, or base scale; species decline increases the length of silent rests.

At St. Kate’s, the algorithmic version and Vivaldi’s original will be juxtaposed against each other in a new arrangement by Emily Isaacson of the organization Classical Uprising and Jesse Irons, a Grammy-nominated violinist. The performance will also feature the Minnesota Opera Orchestra.

The “[Uncertain] Four Seasons” algorithm was initially developed by a global group of musicians and designers based in Australia, to communicate data in a new way — to help people literally hear climate change.

And because the impact of climate change is different around the world, location-specific data can be used. The version originally performed in Sydney was different from what we’ll hear in St. Paul.

Isaacson’s goal goes a little further, though: She wants us not just to be aware of the climate crisis, but to actually do something about it, too.

Sustainability Focus at St. Catherine University ushers in Climate Action Concerto

“The [uncertain] Four Seasons,” which reinterprets Vivaldi’s famous set of four concertos in light of climate change based on geospatial data. Irene Greene, The O’Shaughnessy’s executive director, tells me over email that the piece, spearheaded by the Maine-based classical music organization Classical Uprising, was selected to help drive climate action.

“The [uncertain] Four Seasons” is a musical score based on climate data dependent on the location of the performance. It was inspired by a project first performed by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in 2019. Two advertising agencies — AKQA and Jung von Matt — collaborated with composer/musician Hugh Crosthwaite, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Monash Climate Change Communications Research Hub to develop the score, which debuted in Australia in 2021. 

In her remarks at the opening ceremony event, Dr. Emily Isaacson, the director of Classical Uprising, said she and Grammy-Award winning violinist Jesse Irons have been following the project, and decided to present it with CU, but they made some adjustments. 

“We realized that listening to 45 minutes of computer-generated music is not so fun,” she said to the St. Catherine audience. “And one of the things that I think about a lot is climate paralysis. This issue is so enormous, so emotionally overwhelming, that it’s easier to shut down than to act.” So Isaacson created an arrangement that would help take the audience on a narrative arc — compelling them to act without shutting them down, by combining the algorithmically created data with Vivaldi’s original. For the presentation at The O’Shaughnessy, the evening will include poetry performances by St. Kate’s students, and will be performed by Irons and members of the Minnesota Opera orchestra.