[Cover photo credit to Kevin Woods]
Paul Winter’s 29th Annual Summer Solstice Sunrise Concert will take place on June 22, 2024 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. It will kick off at 4:30AM. Winter is a seven-time Grammy-winning saxophonist.
The Paul Winter Consort will premiere a new musical journey, “Adventures in the Universe,” inspired by composer Charles Ives’ aural-vision of a “Universe Symphony,” a work that Ives never realized, but which he encouraged future musicians to explore.
Winter says:
Our aspiration is to use the extraordinary acoustics and space of the Cathedral to create a soundscape which might awaken in the imaginations of listeners some sense of the vastness of space and time in the universe.
Playing with the Consort for the first time will be special guest Jeff Beal on flugelhorn. A respected Jazz instrumentalist and composer, Beal is perhaps best known for scoring the Netflix show House of Cards, for which he won his fifth Emmy.
The flugelhorn will be a companion voice to Paul Winter’s soprano sax, among harmonies created by Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann and organist Tim Brumfield.
Winter says:
Summer Solstice is one of the great turning points of the year, when the sun is at its peak and the days abound with the promise of life’s fullness. The ancients gathered at Stonehenge to catch the first rays of the summer sun, in the lineage of universal acknowledgement of the sun as the source of life, fertility, and good fortune. We have, in New York, the privilege of gathering in another stone forum, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. However, it has been an ongoing quest of our summer solstice celebrations, over the years, to experience this turning point of the year in a new way – with the aural rather than the visual – through this miracle of listening.
There will be a section of the nave roped off for yoga mats, for people who want to enjoy this deep-listening experience lying down.
WHAT: Paul Winter’s 29th Annual Summer Solstice Sunrise Celebration
WHERE: Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, New York, NY 10025
WHEN: 4:30 a.m. Saturday, June 22, 2024.
ADMISSION: $65 Preferred General Admission, $55 General Admission, $45 Yoga Mat.
