Cristina Spinei, who resides in Nashville, is best known for her music for ballet having had commissions from several ballet companies including Nashville Ballet and the New York Choreographic Institute. She is also at the forefront of a movement to utilize NFTs through blockchain technology as a way for creators to better control their art and sustain themselves financially. One such project is a string quartet called Whirl, which is still evolving online through everchanging permutations. See her Ted Talk for a better explanation or go to her website cristinaspinei.com. That string quartet also spun off Whirl for String Orchestra.

As she recounts, in the spring of 2021, she was composing in Nashville during a stormy few weeks that included floods and tornado sirens. During the same period, she had been listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. She mixed in her love of rhythmic Latin music influences as well as operatic lyricism and what resulted was this “swirling chaotic motion of a piece” that became her homage to Vivaldi. Whirl for String Orchestra.

Program notes by Rob Fann