To show the destructive effects of climate change, we took the most famous musical depiction of nature, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and adapted it to today’s weather conditions, using historical climate data. A collaborative team of sound artists, software developers and music arrangers converted the original Four Seasons into a new score: For Seasons. Custom-built algorithms were fed with 300 years of data to transform what Vivaldi had expressed in his masterpiece into what we experience now.

After months of work and rehearsals, the For Seasons premiered to the world at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and live on Facebook. Led by world-renowned conductor Alan Gilbert, the philharmonic orchestra performed the altered concertos, making climate change audible.

No translation necessary.

Climate change has become the biggest threat to life on earth.

Hamburg, home of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, will be underwater by 2050 according to the latest climate predictions. After numerous scientific reports, extensive media coverage and a whole generation having taken to the streets, we should have all got the message by now. Yet, many people don’t seem to comprehend how vital the danger is. That’s why, the NDR Elphilharmonie Orchestra could not remain silent to this mounting disaster. We wanted to use the power of music to make people listen up, feel the change and create the change.