Isaacson was conducting the first rehearsal of the season for Classical Uprising. During a series of fall concerts, the group would perform ancient Roman Catholic liturgical chants and Duruflé’s Requiem with unexpected changes in rhythm and tempo reminiscent of avant-garde 1950s and ’60s composers. Dramatic lighting effects, inspired by Phish concerts and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, would heighten the emotional impact of the music. “The theme of a lot of classical concerts is, ‘We’re going to take you back to this specific moment when Schubert wrote this quartet,’” Isaacson says. “This is more like a time-travel experience, where we’re transporting you from the ancient world to the now by playing with the music in a modern way.” 

This is not just a playground game. It’s rehearsal. Isaacson is the founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Classical Uprising. Nearly two years ago, she and composer Judd Greenstein started working with these students to develop an original piece of music… “Growing Up Maine” is a concert-length work that was born out of their poems and hand clapping games and interviews.

“It’s a musical portrait of a community in transition, told by the children who are transforming it,” Isaacson said.

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."

“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.

Fall 2023's top 10 classical performances include Richard Goode, Audra McDonald and Anthony McGill and Classical Uprising with the Minnesotta Opera Orchetra

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?

“My main competition is Netflix. I want people to get off their couches and go out and experience the power and magic of live music…Normally I get to move to the music and audience members just sit there. I want them to really engage with the music while walking through the 10 sonic stations. They can even bring their kids and if the kids run around, that’s just fine.” Clearly, Emily Isaacson is not your up-tight, paint-by-the-numbers conductor.

Dear Live Music,

I’ve missed you! I have been filling your void with Spotify and the radio, but it’s just not the same. It’s like eating at McDonald’s when what I really want is Fore Street—it fills me up, but it doesn’t nourish me.

You see, you make me feel alive. With you, I am not just listening, I’m experiencing. If it’s a single musician, their sweat and furrowed brow remind me of the years of practice, dedication, and sacrifice that they bring to this moment. If it’s an ensemble, I am in awe that the unified focus and collective energy of 30, 50, 150 people are all for my ears.

For our ears….

Portland Bach Experience began in 2017 as a week-long festival in June, and has expanded to include an October weekend festival, as well as other classical music events throughout the year.

In 2020, Portland Bach Experience became a program of Classical Uprising, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization offering a bold rethinking of the classical music experience through immersive events, performances, and educational programs. Classical Uprising’s programs include Portland Bach Experience, Oratorio Chorale, and Classical Uprising Youth Choirs, which combined serve over 120 adult amateur singers, 70 young musicians, 60 professional artists, and more than 8,000 audience members.