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<p>Eighty percent of world trade is carried by ships. A big cargo ship docks in the United States about every six minutes. It unloads goods that can come from any port on the planet. Unfortunately, these ships also often unload invasive species — unwanted hitchhikers, like zebra mussel larvae and purple loosestrife seeds — travelling in the ship’s ballast water. This, too, can come from any port on the planet.</p>

<p>As David Feurzeig recalls Tropical Storm Irene, its onset was milder than the warnings -- from where he sat, a bullet dodged. And so begins his symphony: “stillness, intermittently broken by quick, isolated note-snippets.” But then. “(They) become more and more frequent until there is a full deluge of sound.” Those are the words of Vermont Symphony Orchestra conductor Anthony Princiotti who is preparing for rehearsal of <em>High Water</em>. “David's piece is highly descriptive, and I think it accurately evokes what Irene felt like,” he says.��“Retrospectively the warnings seem abstract in comparison to how destructive the storm was.��The beginning of the piece depicts this well.”</p>