Despite all data, disasters, and a generation taking to the streets, governments still fail to meet Paris Climate Agreement targets. Even after numerous scientific reports, extensive media coverage we should have all got the message by now. Yet, it seems the magnitude of the climate crisis is so overwhelming, many prefer to ignore it. So, we created a living composition that changes as our world changes. It aims to send a message that cannot be unheard on the occasion of COP26 in Glasgow. With15 Youth Orchestras from six continents performing their variations to over 700 delegates and CEOs at Youth Empowerment Day at COP26 were amplifying the voices of a generation directly to those in power with one key message: Listen to the sound of climate crisis and act now to stop it.

The [Uncertain] Four Seasons is a global project that recomposed Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ using climate data for every orchestra in the world. The [uncertain] Four Seasons brings together data scientists, composers, developers and musicians to update Vivaldi's original 1725 composition of 'The Four Seasons' for the year 2050. The score has been altered using the latest climate modelling data from the IPCC report's 'RCP 8.5' future scenario, which assumes no concerted global effort to restrict greenhouse gas emissions.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 the year 2050. The [uncertain] Four Seasons is an algorithmic re-composition of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’. Developed by composers, musicians, climate and computer scientists using geospatial climate predictions for 2050.

The [Uncertain] Four Seasons uses data from The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), a collaborative framework designed to improve knowledge of climate change by twenty climate modelling groups from around the world.

The CMIP5 framework predicts climate change data in various scenarios. This prediction data has been widely used in academia and industry, including the CoastalDEM model which predicts the number of people vulnerable to sea level rise and abrupt ecological disruption by climate change.

Through a sophisticated algorithm, we have mapped geospatial variations from the IPCC's modelling into the original score, allowing us to generate different versions for specific locations. Using this method, we've generated a variation of The [uncertain Four Seasons] for every major orchestra in the world.

For this project, we used Soil moisture content, Precipitation sum, Sea surface temperature and Air temperature data from CMIP5 following the RCP8.5 scenario, a high Co2 emissions scenario that predicts climate data if our society does not take significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We also used the expected number of vulnerable people from sea level rise in the RCP8.5 scenario that is calculated based on the CoastalDEM model by Climate Central. To include biodiversity variation, the project uses predictions for Species collapse based on CMIP5 data (Temperature and Precipitation).

The resulting music is a distortion of the landscape that Vivaldi responded to in 1725. In some variations, the birds have fallen silent. In others, storms are more intense, or rivers have ceased flowing. In all variations, the changes are stark and irrefutable. If we do not act now, the landscape of 2050 will be dramatically changed from what we know and rely upon. It has to be heard to be believed.

Performed during a broadcast to over 17 million people on national television with further performances booked thru 2023, the response has been phenomenal. With 15 Youth Orchestras from six continents performing their variations to over 700 delegates and CEOs at Youth Empowerment Day at COP26 were amplifying the voices of a generation directly to those in power with one key message: Listen to the sound of climate crisis and act now to stop it.