Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral

Article | June 1, 2022

Meet TILT Partner Paul Winter’s Solstice Saga at St. John the Divine 

Blog|Grace

What is TILT? It is a celebration of light and music on the Summer Solstice and a different angle on music – especially music heard in sacred spaces.  

TILT launched in 2020, and because we could not gather in person, we partnered with cathedrals across the country to present an online offering of beautiful music in beautiful spaces. We are excited to open the cathedral doors for an in-person experience this year, and we so enjoyed our partnerships over the last two years, that we have continued that tradition this year. 

Meet our East Coast partners, Paul Winter Consort and The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where the sun rises on the solstice three hours earlier than we see it here. 

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine is the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Seat of its Bishop. The largest cathedral in the world, St. John the Divine is also known as “the green cathedral.” In the 1980s and 1990s, it became the center of a vital community of thinkers and seekers working on issues of ecology and environment, and world peace. It represented a global forum, where you could listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Mayor of Jerusalem, the Dalai Lama, Cesar Chavez, Jesse Jackson, Vaclav Havel, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as the Paul Winter Consort.  

Since 1980, Paul Winter and his Consort have been artists-in-residence at the cathedral, where they have presented over 200 unique events, including their ecological mass (Missa Gaia/Earth Mass) and their famed annual Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice Celebrations. 

Paul’s musical odyssey has long embraced the traditions of the world’s cultures, as well as the wildlife voices of what he refers to as “the greater symphony of the Earth.” From the early days of his college jazz sextet, which toured 23 countries of Latin America for the State Department and performed the first-ever jazz concert at the White House for the Kennedys in 1962, to his later ensemble, the Paul Winter Consort, his concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to 52 countries and to wilderness areas on six continents. He has recorded over 50 albums, of which seven have been honored with Grammy® Awards. 

His latest album, “Concert in the Barn,” with music from his Summer Solstice Celebration of 2021, is being released on June 17. And on June 18 and 19 he will offer his 27th Annual Summer Solstice Celebration in a livestream concert from the cathedralesque loft of his barn in the hills of northwest Connecticut. 

For TILT, we will be sharing filmed performances from Paul’s Solstice Saga, featuring his stunning soprano saxophone and gorgeous vocals by Theresa Thomason. Theresa’s enormous vocal talent began to emerge at the age of thirteen when she won national acclaim for her performances in jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues. Theresa has had a succession of sold-out concerts in more than 150 European cities as well as in the USA.  

Join us for TILT In-person on Monday, June 20, 8 to 9:30 p.m.  and online from June 21 through 26 at gracecathedral.org. 

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