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Program notes:

This piece is based on the potential of future low-to-no snow events in the North American Cordillera, which is the continuous collection of mountain ranges in the west, starting in Alaska and ending in Mexico. Scientists are anticipating that in order to prevent a low-to-no snow event, we must prevent the level of global warming from reaching +2.5 degrees Celsius. Much of the musical materials located in the piano were created from mapping US average annual maximum temperature data onto musical pitches and registers. About two-thirds of the data is presented before the music changes, representing our anxiety and frustration with the potential low-to-no snow events. Finally, the rest of the data is revealed, emphasizing the rising maximum temperatures as it moves higher through the ensemble.